The Prophecy of Night
by TheSevenHeroes
Summary: Percy came back to camp for the winter holidays. As soon as he arrives, they hear of a dangerous prophecy that sends him and the rest of the seven on another trip to the ancient lands. The terrifying evil they have yet to face is more ancient and more powerful than anything they have ever gone up against before. But at least this time, they won't be completely alone.
1. Rachel Rudely Interrupts Our Game

**Hey guys :) This is my first fanfiction, hope you enjoy it. I've read a bunch already, and now I finally started to write one! Oh, and this happens right after the Heroes of Olympus series! I'm thinking that Percy and the rest of the seven came** **back to camp for the winter holidays or something.**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Percy:**

I was having dreams. More specifically, nightmares.

Ever since the capture the flag game last week I'd been having them. All the campers were running around attacking, defending, setting hilarious traps that would be sprung as soon as someone walked by the river (that one was mostly the Stolls). Rachel couldn't play, of course. Without ADHD, she wouldn't have the essential battle reflexes, and couldn't be healed with ambrosia if seriously injured. So she sat on a bench, watching the game with little interest, from a safe distance.

Suddenly, Rachel decided to go all _'Oracle'_ on the camp and walked into the center of the field. Everyone stopped and stared at her, wondering whether to run screaming for their lives or just pee their pants. A few did the second after she turned to the campers with her eyes glowing. They were the same misty, green eyes the old Oracle of Delphi had that always freaked me out. And then to make it worse, she started to recite a prophecy. And by the sound of it, it wasn't to be taken lightly.

 _Day falls to Night on the winter solstice,_

 _Fate determined with only one promise,_

 _Children of the gods will rise together,_

 _Half shall succeed for worse or better,_

 _Dark trap revealed in the ancient lands,_

 _One will fail but both must stand._

She really had it out for us today, because to make it _even_ worse (if that's possible) she collapsed and Apollo appeared. You see, when a god takes time to get his spoiled butt down from Olympus, it's not necessarily for a good reason. Unless of course, your dad is Poseidon, cause he'll even come down even for your birthday. He's personally my favorite.

Ok back to the problem. So the fact that Apollo came all the way down from Olympus _just_ for a prophecy, means it probably involved the gods too. I mean, it's not every day you hear a prophecy, but they only matter to the gods when their own well-being is concerned. And anything that can threaten the gods is definitely an issue.

Apollo stepped up to Rachel and snapped his fingers, and she disappeared. He sighed. "She is resting in the infirmary. Unfortunately, because of her mortal status, she cannot receive ambrosia, but she must be taken care of. Prophecy-reciting takes a lot out of a person."

I scoffed silently. As if _he_ knew. The closest thing to a prophecy I've ever heard Apollo recite were his infamous second-rate haikus.

Next to me, Annabeth squeezed my hand. "Not again," she whispered to me. "Haven't we had enough of life-threatening prophecies and deadly beings?"

She said exactly what I was thinking. I smiled down at her. She was beautiful. Her golden curls were tied up into a hasty ponytail, and she was still sweating lightly from the game. In the midst of all the chaos, I always had Annabeth.

" _Three deadly prophecies in a lifetime_?" I started. "I don't know about you, but that's a little much. I mean, the Great Prophecy took ages to take action, this one probably will too." I assured.

"Hope you're right Seaweed Brain." I could still hear the worry in her voice. _Hope I'm right too_ , I thought.

So that's why I was having nightmares. Nightmares about the 'Ancient Prophecy' as Apollo called it. He said something, warning us about the presence of some ancient evil, and therefore it should be called the 'Ancient Prophecy'. As if it wasn't already stressful enough.

Tonight, I dreamed of a voice, as I had for the past few days. It seriously gave me the creeps. _Rise, young hero_ , it taunted. Its evil voice gave off a disturbing and frightening feeling. _The others weren't as powerful as I_ , it continued. _The most ancient are always the strongest. I shall succeed. So rise along with your brethren, and face the eternal darkness_. It hissed, and I jolted awake. Something gave me a feeling that this prophecy was my generation's problem now.

A knock on my door woke me up fully, and I wondered who could be up at this time. Wait, what time was it? I looked at the clock crafted by my cyclops brother Tyson. _Oh no_ , I realized. It was _10:30 AM._

Who let me skip breakfast? I burst out the door, mumbling to myself about having a talk with Chiron about the importance of _my_ breakfast, but forgetting someone knocked just a few seconds earlier. I opened the door and ran straight into Grover.

"Blah-ha-ha-ha" he glared at me. "If I had my fake feet I would whack you with them!" I smiled at him.

"Good morning to you too Grover!" I yelled as he grumbled something back. I immediately ran off to find Annabeth, and sure enough, she was sitting by the canoe lake, where we had our first kiss. Since that time, we've both been really attached to this spot, as if our underwater kiss suddenly made it really special. Ask walked up to her, she was staring into the clear blue waters, deep in thought.

"Hey." I moved her chin to look at me when I sat down next to her.

"Hey Perce." she smiled weakly at me.

"You ok?" I questioned. I took her hands and stared into her thoughtful, but worried eyes. I couldn't stand when she was stressed. To be honest, I was counting on Annabeth to assure me that everything would be okay. She was clearly in the same state that I was in though, maybe even worse.

"It'll be okay, alright?" I reassured her. "We can't change our fates, but we've beaten evil before. For gods sakes, we defeated the LORD of the TITANS and FREAKIN MOTHER EARTH!" I beamed at her.

She seemed to relax, just a little. But that was enough. "Thanks, seaweed brain." She sighed. "Right now, my problem is trying not to get _you_ killed for the rest of eternity." she teased. "Seems you can barely take care of yourself." she nagged, eyeing a fresh wound on the side of my face next to my ear.

"Hey, I have you to do that for me. Picture it: _Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, heroes of Olympus, while Percy fights evil, his trusty sidekick and co-hero Annabeth, cleans up after him!_ " She glared at me.

"I think it's pretty clear that it's the other way around." she decided.

"Sure Wise Girl," I commented sarcastically. Before she could argue, I leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. As soon as she pulled back, I ran off, not letting her get the last word.

"Hey! That's not fair!" she called out. "Get your lousy butt back here right now Seaweed Brain!"

"Sorry Annabeth, no can do!" I turned my back to her while running and almost bumped into Jason.

"Whoa man. Hey, you're nice to your girlfriend," he noted. "Piper would kill me if I did that. Literally." he laughed lightly to himself.

"See that's the thing." I started sarcastically. "Our relationship is special because we constantly insult each other, but no one ever dies." I joked. "I guess we're just so used to getting mad at each other from the time we were twelve, so now it's just funny and a daily routine for us." I smiled at the thought. Annabeth and I had come so far. Then I grimaced as the Ancient Prophecy came into my mind, and my spirits sunk all over again.

"Do you know if anyone's been having dreams about the prophecy?" I asked.

Jason nodded his head warily. " Some lady's voice. She's been telling me that the seven will be joined by others on the way to the ancient lands. She's probably on our side though." he said.

I frowned. "Huh. The voice I've been hearing was definitely evil. But hey," I thought. "At least someone's on our side."

"Yea, Piper, and Leo have been having the same dreams," he added. "Oh, and the voice said something like, the wisdom's daughter holds the key to the defeat of eternal darkness."

"Wisdom's daughter..." I repeated. My eyes widened. "Annabeth?"

"That's what I thought. I mean, there are quite a few daughters of Athena, but she _is_ one of the seven."

I grimaced. The last thing Annabeth needed was the knowledge that the defeat of the enemy depended on her.

"Ah, I've been meaning to see you." a voice boomed. I whipped around. "Kneel, Peter Johnson."

 **Yay! I hope you liked that. Just in case you wanted to know, I will probably update every 1-2 days, maybe even two chapters at once. Please review! More reviews help me write the chapters better and you guys :)**


	2. It's Love At First Sight (I think)

**I published this one like one minute after I published my first chapter. I'll publish, maybe two more, in about two days. And guys if you don't like anything about my story so far, please review and tell me! I can always make it better.**

 **Illiana :**

I walked out of math half-asleep. I mean, seriously. Volume, exponents, and scientific notation. How does the math teacher _not_ fall asleep teaching all this stuff? And it's not like we use it in real life!

* _Applying to work at an aquarium*_

 _What was the college you attended?_

 _Experience working in an aquarium?_

 _Who did you work for previously?_

 _If a cone has a radius of 4.5cm and a height of 12.54cm, what is its volume? Explain your answer and show work._

NO. That does NOT happen. Nonetheless, I get A's in the painful subject known as math.

While I was busy ranting to myself in my head, I remembered that lunch was next, but I went to the bathroom first. I came out of the stall and washed my hands. Just as I was walking out, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror.

I glanced at my long, dark curls that fell until right below my chest. My light brown skin got more and more sunburnt each day, but that didn't bother me. It was basically winter, in late November, and my color would come back soon enough without the burning sun. ( **Just a note: She is not African American!** )

My small nose and lips made me appear younger than I actually was. Well, I _was_ pretty young, the youngest in 8th grade. My extremely dark brown eyes were kind and filled with curiosity. At least, that's what I've been told. I've seen my face every day so I've never noticed anything unique about my eyes before.

I walked outside and shivered just a little. There was a light, but cold breeze outside. My middle school had a bunch of classrooms that connected to the library and the office, but those indoors hallways were supposed to be used only by teachers and staff. The rest of the classrooms didn't connect to any indoor hallways, and some were just portables, so students had to walk outside to get to classrooms or other places in school.

As I started to walk towards the lunch tables, I felt the cool breeze again. I always got easily cold, but somehow the wind could relax me. I was thinking about that when I suddenly bumped into someone and felt a hand grip my arm to keep me from falling.

"So sorry. I didn't - " I stopped short when I looked up. A beautiful pair of icy blue eyes looked down into mine. He smiled. It was gorgeous.

"It was my fault. You ok?" I just stared. Then I quickly blushed when I realized that and smiled back.

"I'm fine. Thanks though. I was just… daydreaming." I looked into his eyes again. They were so…. well, actually there were no words for it. They were definitely unique, I would have remembered seeing eyes like that. I understand now, how eyes can look kind. His hair was like mine, just that it was very dark brown and only the slightest bit curly. He was about my height, maybe an inch taller, and he looked a little rebellious, like he was mischievous, a troublemaker.

"You were, huh. You looked pretty lost in thought."

"I guess I do that a lot," I noted. "Anyways, I have to get to lunch. See you around?"

He smiled again. I blushed slightly, but he didn't seem to notice. "You got it." He gave me a silly little salute and I laughed. I walked the rest of the way to lunch with a happy grin, this time with a different daydream.

"Um, hello? Ily I've said your name like three times now." An annoyed voice jolted me back to reality. I looked at my friend Lexi and gave her a weak smile.

Lacie, Lexi's twin, smirked at me. "She looks better than ok to me."

"What do you mean?" I asked after I quickly realized I must have been smiling dreamily or something.

"Oh come _on_ Ily" she poked me. " _Something_ happened in those 7 minutes you were gone at the beginning of lunch." I blushed, and she gave a satisfied smile. "I'm right aren't I."

"Ummm"

"Did you meet someone."

"I never said that!"

"You implied it."

"How exactly?"

"I heard it in your voice and saw it on your face. You should know by now, that I can read people extremely can't lie to me."

I sighed in defeat.

"Also I saw you talking to someone right before you came over here," she added.

I glared at her.

"So?" She looked very interested. Too interested.

I smirked. I could get something out of this from her. Actually, from all of them, I realized as I looked around at the rest of my friend's expectant faces.

"Hmmm…" I made them wait.

"Yea?" my friend Adrianna asked impatiently.

"Well, I'm not sure-"

"Get to the _point_ Ily you're _torturing_ us!" Cali whined. I'd always loved Cali's name. Her real name was Callisto, named after one of Jupiter's moons.

"Well you see, this information is kinda private, but I guess if you _really_ want to know…"

"Ugh, of _course_ we do spill it already!" she said. I smirked again. They looked on the verge of breaking. This would be easy.

" Then I want something in return" I looked at each of them.

"WHAT?!" they screamed. I smiled inwardly. On the outside, I gave hem a completely innocent look. I'm a horrible person.

"Guess you don't need to know…"

"Aw come on! Anything, I swear" begged Lexi.

"Anything?" I asked again.

"Uhh, yes?" she decided skeptically.

"Who's your crush?" she gaped at me.

Suddenly, all my friends were interested. We all knew she had one, we just didn't know who it was. She'd been hiding it for almost two years already, so I doubted that she would give up her secret for this. I was just about to give up and tell her anyways when her own curiosity got the best of her.

"Fine." Lexi sighed.

"Wait, really?" I marveled.

"Don't make me change my mind!" she snapped. She was clearly annoyed at us, but I almost laughed at the fear in her eyes.

" Lex, we're your best friends, you think we're gonna tell him or something?" I joked.

She sighed again. "I guess you're right. Um… his name is…"

We all tensed and leaned forward in our seats. "Yea?" Lacie coaxed.

"His name is Jax," she whispered, and look carefully into each one of our eyes. We all just stopped and stared, speechless.

Then Adrianna spoke up. "Umm, like nerdy, loud, smelly Jax?" she wondered. I could tell she didn't want to hurt Lexi's feelings, but she was clearly appalled. I guess I was too, everyone hated Jax.

"Ew no!" Lexi shrieked. Everyone, especially Lacie, looked relieved. She glared at us. "Max, the one in PE with us?"

"Ooo, he's cute" Cali piped up. Lexi gave her a look. "Uh, what? That came out wrong. I mean, not for me of course. He's cute and totally perfect, but only for you." she finished and smiled at herself. Lexi beamed.

 _Nice save,_ I thought, smirking at them. "Now, _all_ of you." They almost cried.

Long story short, Lacie likes Carson, and Cali likes Blake. Adrianna almost burst with happiness when she remembered she already told us her crush, whose name is Jett, but then I burst her bubble and told her she needed to tell us something else. She argued that she already went through the pain of telling us last year so it counted, and everyone was convinced once they realized lunch was almost over and I still had to tell them my story.

So of course, I told them everything, from what I was thinking before I bumped into him, to what I was feeling after. Honestly, I have the biggest mouth in the universe, meaning only that I went into every detail of something I explained. I would never break someone's trust or tell a secret.

But then they asked me what his name was, and everyone was shocked (including myself) when I recalled that I hadn't even asked for it, and neither did he. Actually, I didn't even think I've seen him before in school.

I had history next, which was actually pretty interesting, and I walked with Adrianna who had it with me.

"That was a _fun_ game of truth or dare." she quipped sarcastically.

"More like truth or truth" I replied. We both giggled quietly as we walked into the already almost full classroom.

"Hey," a voice laughed. "Long time no see!"

 **( AGAIN : )**

 **I published this one like one minute after I published my first chapter. I'll publish, maybe two more, in about two days. And guys if you don't like anything about my story so far, please review and tell me! I can always make it better.**


	3. Leo Goes Crazy, But More Than Usual

**Hey guys! I finished the third chapter today. Oh and, tomorrow is Friday, and then the weekend, so I can publish like three or four new chapters by Sunday!**

 **Percy:**

 _"Ah, I've been meaning to see you." a voice boomed. I whipped around._

There, standing right in front of me, was Zeus. _The_ Zeus. This can't be happening. If there was something worse than Apollo coming down from Olympus for a prophecy, it was Zeus coming down from Olympus at all. He was literally the king of _oh- I'm- a- mighty- god- do- it- yourself- you- lousy- heroes!_

"Two major gods in a week?" Jason mumbled. "This can't be good."

"Kneel, Peter Johnson!" Zeus told me.

I gaped at him. No way. _Like father like son,_ I thought, thinking of Dionysus.

Then I immediately remembered that if I didn't kneel this second he would probably smite me. So I put one knee to the ground and bowed. I looked at Jason sideways, who had dropped as soon as he saw his father. Well, technically his father was Jupiter, Zeus's Roman form, but same difference.

"I have come, bearing distasteful news." Some campers had started to crowd behind Zeus, listening intently. "You may rise." Jason and I got up from our positions, shared a look of worry, then turned back to Zeus.

"As you have noticed, Day is becoming weaker," he said. Wait, what? I hadn't even thought about it. It was probably like10:50 or something, and now that I look at it, it _was_ kinda dark for this time. Not completely though.

"We, the gods, believe, that something has happened to Day. We declare this an official quest! The same seven that defeated Gaea shall journey to the ancient lands and solve this mystery. I believe you must be honored, to have accepted a quest from the all-mighty gods themselves." he gestured proudly at himself.

Woah, Woah, Woah. Accepted? We never accepted any _quest_! I was about to tell him just that when I realized that this 'quest' greatly coincided with the Ancient Prophecy. We have to find a 'dark trap' in the ancient lands, and Zeus told us to travel to the ancient lands. Also, Zeus told us Day was getting weaker, and the first line of the prophecy mentions Day falling.

Well, we couldn't just suddenly pack up and leave for a quest. Which ancient land, Rome or Greece? Or was it both. And _only_ the seven? When do we leave? How do we get there? Do we use the _Argo_ _II_? Why does he keep on referring to Day as a being, a person? What is the eternal darkness? Who is the ancient evil? What should we be prepared for? I could have written a novel with my list of questions, but then someone interrupted my stress session.

"Yoooo, my homies! Hey hey hey, and the king of all ma homies. Whasup my man, Olympus lookin all dope?" Someone yelled this in a fake-deep voice, that sounded suspiciously like someone I knew...

"Leo! We're having a _situation._ " Jason gave him a death glare and gestured to Zeus's disgusted expression. Leo didn't take the hint.

"You got it bro! Yo dat bling is sick Pipes!" He pointed at an extremely annoyed Piper who emerged from the crowd.

"LEO!" she scolded. "Would you change out of those ridiculous clothes and listen? We are having a serious problem right now!"

"Leo _there_ you are!" Calypso burst out of the trees. "Come back here right now and drop the stupid act!" she froze and stared at all the campers who were watching her curiously.

"I uh...," she laughed weakly. "So you see," she started, "Leo and I um.." she looked carefully at Chiron, who had emerged earlier from the Big House. "Last night, Leo took me out of camp." she glanced at Chiron's stern face and winced.

"You know since I haven't seen the real world in so long, and all. So we um, we went to a concert."

"Aww, Jason! How come you don't sneak _me_ out of camp and take _me_ to concerts." Piper teased.

"Yea Perce, why can't you be more like Valdez?" Annabeth whined as she walked up next to me.

"Ah, jeez Pipes. Stop making the puppy dog eyes, I'll take you anywhere I swear!" Jason begged. Piper gave him a satisfied ' _hmph'._

"Anyways," Calypso rolled her eyes at us. "Leo's never been to a concert either, so neither of us knew what to expect. We watched from above on Festus, and the guy who performed, some crazy rapper, was talking to everyone and acting all weird. And then I asked Valdez what he was doing," Calypso glared sternly at Leo who was breakdancing (badly) in front of the Aphrodite cabin,

"And he said, 'Yo, yo, yo, Lypso, honey! Das how da cool kids do it.' And long story short, he's been like this ever since." she gave an exasperated sigh.

Annabeth laughed lightly next to me. I turned around as she took my hand and squeezed it. "You know Leo, if Hazel were here, she'd take a hammer and smack you upside the head. Too bad she's Camp Jupiter with Frank." she mock pouted.

"Why call Hazel?" Calypso remarked. "I'd do it myself if he didn't burst into flames every time I tried." she taunted.

"No, Calypso. You see, you have to catch him in his sleep, wearing a fireproof suit." Piper added.

"You're right!" Calypso smiled. "And why use a hammer, when I can just have Festus come in and bonk Leo himself?"

"I second that!" a camper from the Hephaestus cabin declared.

"I definitely third!" Piper said.

"Jeez, ladies!" Leo backed away from them. "Just trying to lighten the mood guys. No need to get violent." he chuckled nervously.

I shook my head, wondering how I became friends with such crazy people. Then my eyes widened. The king of the gods had been _awfully_ quiet, and Chiron had already left. Wait a second, I realized. So that must have meant ….. I quickly turned around, but it was too late. The king of Olympus was already gone.

 **You guys like that? And, PLEASEEE review! I really need reviews or I could run out of ideas soon. Ok, enjoy the rest of the storyyyy 3**


	4. I Never Really Liked Substitute Teachers

**Hello guys! I'm publishing again, and like I said, I can probably do like two more chapters by Sunday. Please review again, and thanks for reading!**

 **Illiana :**

" _Hey," a voice laughed. "Long time no see!"_

I turned towards the voice, cause it sounded kinda familiar, and looked up into the face of the handsome boy I had met earlier at lunch.

I was so flustered I didn't even think about what I was saying and just blurted out, "What are you doing here?" Then I suddenly realized the rudeness in that and cursed myself. He probably hated me now.

Instead, he gave me a mock-pout. "Ouch. Was it too much to hope you'd be happy to see me?"

I giggled lightly, then blushed and said, "You're weird." He laughed at me as I sat down next to Adrianna. Our history classroom had tables of four, and the boy sat down in front of me and Adrianna.

Then I remembered something. I leaned a little forward so the substitute teacher for today wouldn't hear me. "I don't recall that I asked for your name," I whispered. Adrianna's eyes widened next to me as she realized who this was, and almost burst into laughter. The whole class, including the teacher _(shoot)_ , looked at our table. I swatted angrily at Adrianna, who was _still_ trying to calm down and gave the teacher a nervous smile. She narrowed her eyes at us and continued to explain to the class about the American Revolutionary War.

"Hey," replied the boy as I turned to him. "Name's Hercules." I almost choked. I coughed a few times and looked up at…. _Hercules_.

He raised his eyebrows at me. I coughed again. "Oh my god I'm so sorry," I whispered to him. "That name it's just, well it's definitely unique. I mean, I like it."

He still looked kinda hurt. I felt pretty bad. "Please don't hate me. I didn't mean for my reaction to come out like that, I totally love your name it just… caught me by surprise?" He chuckled lightly. I thought about it a little. It fit him. Hercules was a great name, I decided.

"And what, may I ask, is yours?" he said in a fake British accent that made me giggle. I blushed again. Why does that keep happening? Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Adrianna almost in tears (again) with laughter. I glared at her.

"It's Illiana." he smiled at me. I was just about to tell him something else when his eyes widened, and he gave a nervous little wave, but not at me. I looked behind me slowly and stared up into the fuming face of the substitute teacher.

"Would you like to share your _delightful_ conversation with the rest of the class?" she sneered at us.

I gulped. "Uh no, Miss…" I looked towards the whiteboard, "Miss Fury." Miss Fury? That was an odd name. She also looked about thirty years old, but the angry crinkles around her eyes made her appear older and more stern. But that thought escaped me when she leaned down over me so far, I had to bend back so she wouldn't bump into me. I could smell her breath too, it was like… well actually, it smelled like _dead_ people. I don't even know what that smells like, but if I ever smelled dead people, I'm assuming that's what it would smell like.

She narrowed her eyes again. She was so close to me, her disgusting breath must have been messing with my brain. Her image flickered, just for a millisecond. Her teeth looked sharp and pointy, like they could rip off my flesh in an instant. She looked like she wanted to do it too.

"You don't have a choice in this," she told me "Get up, and walk to the front." she pointed to her desk. I just sat in my chair, frozen, and not sure what to do. She snarled at me. What was her problem? Why did she hate me so much? I only talked while she was talking. That's what half the class was doing too!

Well now, I noticed, they were all staring intently at what was happening. They looked like they thought I was going to get devoured too. "It pains a teacher," she said slowly in a scary tone, "When her students don't listen to her. I'm assuming you would not like to feel that same _pain_ , in a _physical_ form?" she emphasized physical and pain as if she was considering doing it anyways. When I didn't answer again, stupid me, she took out her claws. Wait, _CLAWS?!_ No, fingers. They were her fingers, I think. I was going crazy. She took out her fingers, and with the sharpened parts of her long, fake nails, scratched my arm.

"OW!" I shrieked. I jumped out of my chair. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" I demanded. Then I covered my mouth and my eyes widened. She gave me a deathly glare. I started nervously rubbing the area where she scratched me. I looked down and almost shrieked again. There was an inch long, _deep_ gash in my arm that was bleeding. I glanced up just as she lunged at me again. I screamed and sidestepped, just in time. She stumbled behind me.

"You, know _nothing_ of hell little girl," she claimed distastefully. The disgust in her voice made me recoil, but then I remembered her disgust was aimed at me. " You should not argue with people who have power over you. And you don't have _nearly_ enough scars. If you _ever_ talk back to me again, you will get more. " Her terrifying eyes gleamed, and she gestured at her pointed fingernails. "You- "

"Uh, Ms. Fury?" Hercules stepped in and saved the day. But what did he hope to accomplish? This teacher was clearly not afraid to break the law!

"What do you want?" she was definitely annoyed at him. I winced, hoping she wouldn't hurt him too.

"Well, I'm new, and Illiana was just trying to explain to me what we've learned so far in history. So I could catch up?" he looked almost as nervous as I was, but satisfied with his answer. _What was he doing?_ This teacher didn't seem like she cared much about history, as much as she did scarring her students.

She cackled at him. "Puny boy! This issue does not concern you. So I suggest you leave this to me and continue whatever you were doing before?" she retorted, dismissing him as though he was just a little pest nagging her. He gulped. Then his face contracted into a frown. He looked mad. Really mad. I was about to save his life and tell him to let it go, but it was too late.

"Well you see, _Miss_ ," she addressed her distastefully. "I may be new here, but I'm pretty sure teachers can't _threaten_ other students."

"Well I-" she started, but he stopped her.

"And I _know_ for a fact, that you can _not_ hurt them." he glared at her dangerously. She glared back. Then her face broke into something like a look of respect.

"You speak bravely, young hero. May the gods spare your life in times of peril," she spoke slowly, with no aggressive tones. I didn't think that was possible for her. I looked over at Hercules, and his beautiful blue eyes were filled with determination.

What did Ms. Fury mean, by 'times of peril'? And gods? Like, plural? She was one weird lady. Could I even call her a lady? There should be a specific name for those time of people. Oh wait, criminals. Then she looked at me, and I gulped again. What was she going to do now? I glanced over at the door. If I went in the next few seconds, I could make a run for the office and call the cops. I considered it too, when I realized she was giving me the same look of respect she had given Hercules earlier. Her mood changes quickly.

"You." she pointed at me. "You are braver than you acknowledge. You must exert that trait more. It will come out when your friends are threatened. You share the same fatal flaw as your brother." I gave her a look. _Brother?_ I stepped up to her curiously.

" I don't… I don't _have_ a brother." I replied slowly. She looked at me, then raised her eyebrows like she just realized something and told me,

"You are still clueless about your heritage. Do not fret young half-blood, things will come into light soon enough." What the heck is a _half-blood_? She was beginning to sound like a lunatic.

"Excuse me?" I asked defensively. I wasn't clueless. Well, was I? My mother died when I was six, but I had never met my father. I just remembered his smile. I had dreams about it, and there was no way to tell if it was his smile, but I just… had a feeling. I also knew my dad was Greek, but that was about it. I never even got to ask my mom what happened to him. Did he leave us, is he still alive, does he even remember me?

"You will find out soon enough. I sense you will be needed. Be patient, young hero. Soon." Young hero? Since when was I a hero? She had called Hercules a hero too. What was her deal?

I was just about to ask her another question, when she snapped her fingers. My head started throbbing, and I felt like my memory was pulling, threatening to escape. Then it stopped. I sighed. That was weird. But suddenly everyone had gone back to talking in their tables, as if nothing had ever happened. I gaped at them. Hadn't that conversation fazed them even the tiniest bit?

Only Hercules seemed to be as confused as I was. He gave me a questioning glance. _What just happened? And why is everyone acting like nothing just happened?_ I gave him a worried look and shrugged. Someone did something. No. Ms. Fury did something. I looked next to me. Adrianna was minding her own business too! I looked to Ms. Fury who was suddenly back at her desk. How did she get _there_? On a creepier note, she was staring at me and Hercules very intently.

Then the bell rang. As I walked out of history, I turned back one more time. Ms. Fury winked at me, and I rushed out, not wanting to know why. She was seriously strange. I watched as Hercules walked in a different direction than I was headed. I would have to ask him about this later.

I whispered to Adrianna before we split ways. "Wasn't Ms. Fury pretty scary?" I asked. She gave me a weird look. "I can't believe she hurt me."

"Umm, Ms. Fury?" she said, confused. Then she nodded in realization, laughing a bit. _Laughing_? I thought. "Oh, you mean Ms. Byrne. You and your nicknames, Ily. She was a kind old lady, and a retired teacher. All she did when you were talking in class was _frown_ at you. And what do you mean she hurt you?" Adrianna almost laughed again. "Ms. Byrne was like, a _hundred_ years old. She wouldn't hurt a fly."

My eyes widened. Why didn't she remember Ms. Fury? Then I gasped and quickly fumbled to look at the mark Ms. Fury left after scratching me. But when I glanced down, _it was gone._

 **Soooooo... I know you guys probably think these chapters are super short, and I'm trying to make them longer. But, I publish like every day so, that makes up for it right? Yay! Anyways, please review, doesn't hurt to tell me your opinion. It can be bad or good, I don't really mind, but it's something! Kay I'll publish again tmrw 3**


	5. We Have the Worst Sea Captain In History

**Hey guys! I've published all the way up to the fifth chapter in just a three days, and I'm personally very proud of myself. Please review, I like hearing what you guys think, even if it's not good, so don't be afraid to!**

 **Jason:**

"Above board you lousy landlubbers! Blimey! Don't _ignore_ your captain! You shall all walk the bloody plank!" I rolled my eyes.

"You!" He pointed at me. I was probably the only one who _hadn't_ got below deck yet. I'd agreed to put up with Leo and watch the seas for threats since _Leo_ wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"You!" he said again. "Go down and rally the crew. We can't keep a buncha lazy sailors aboard this ship! Me ship is for full-fledged seadogs only! The whole lot of you will be shark bait!" I started to walk away from him. I had learned to tune his voice out after the last couple of hours.

"Hey! No hornswoggling! Keep the booty in the binnacle, you dirty buccaneer." He spit out into the vast ocean. Then Percy came on deck. _Maybe he can keep him under control,_ I hoped. Then I almost threw myself off the ship because of what Percy said.

"Your captain is giving you orders ya bloody sailors!" _Kill me now._ I can't believe this is happening.

" Get to the head and wash your dirty faces, you swashbucklers!" _What even is a swashbuckler?_ "Percy!" Leo shouted.

"Yes Captain!" he turned to Leo and saluted. _Seriously?_

"Gather your duffle and cutlass and get up to the crow's nest. Old salt like you will spot all the freebooters!" _What the heck is he even saying? No one understands this._ Then to my surprise he said,

"Aye Captain!" Percy grabbed Riptide, after taking of its cap, and climbed up to the lookout tower. I've gotta learn my ship-speak, cause this was driving me crazy.

So anyways, we had left Camp Half-Blood a few hours ago, and Leo had been at this since we left. It gave everyone a headache. _Especially_ Calypso. But now Percy was doing it too. We're not _six_ for gods sakes!

We packed everything we needed and stocked the _Argo II_ with all the necessary supplies. The seven, which included me, had started getting everything ready for the trip to the ancient lands as soon as Zeus left, which two days ago. Leo can work fast when it comes to his ship. He always said he was better with his machines than people. But actually, Leo seemed… different, now. Something had changed him since he died and came back to life. I think it was Calypso. Leo was more sensitive with people, more _comfortable_ with us than his machines now. And he _definitely_ seemed happier when Calypso was around. I'm extremely glad he finally found someone who will put up with all his nonsense.

And then I almost took it back. "Jason," he yelled at me. "Fetch my remote-controlled flying telescope, or you'll feed the fish!" he threatened loudly. I rolled my eyes at him. I was getting tired of this.

I sighed. "Leo there's no such thing as a remote-controlled flying telescope," I replied lazily.

"Cackle fruit! I invented it yesterday!" he claimed proudly. He snapped his fingers, and in came flying, _of course_ , a remote-controlled flying telescope. He grabbed a remote from his tool belt and pressed a button. The telescope zoomed off into the distance. Leo put on a pair of sunglasses and gasped, like he could see what the telescope saw through them.

He made a mind-blown gesture. "Thar she blows!" he hollered. "Truly a sight for sore eyes." he sighed.

I groaned. I'd had enough of this. "LEO!" He looked at me, horrified. "Cut the freaking act, will you?! If you don't stop this is instant I will shock you with a million volts of electricity and you _will_ die!"

"That's Supreme Commander McShizzle _to you_!" he exclaimed. And then Coach came above deck, cause it wouldn't be a _proper_ fight without Coach Hedge.

"Quit your yelling you good for nothing half-bloods!" he yelled at us. "If _either_ of you, say _one_ more word, I will whack you so hard you'll forget your name." he threatened. I grimaced at him. I'd already gone through that once, but Leo wasn't taking this quest seriously!

"But I-"

" _One_ more word." Coach Hedge whipped out his baseball bat and pointed it at me. I gulped. I've faced monsters, giants, and the earth mother herself, but Coach Hedge still remained the only one who could scare me.

"Hmph" Leo crossed his arms and turned away from us. Coach Hedge grumbled something about pirates and went back below deck to his cabin. I sighed and walked up to Leo, patting him on the shoulder.

"Hey, man." He didn't look at me. "Look I was a little stressed out and all, being sent on another life-or-death quest." I reasoned.

"Look, I know you were just trying to lighten the mood. I mean, your Leo. Supreme Commander Mcshizzle! You are _the_ strongest, funniest and smartest friend I've ever had, and you are actually my best friend. Don't tell Piper I said that." I glanced warily at the stairs leading down to the cabins. "I couldn't have survived this past year without you, and you make being a demigod worthwhile. You're absolutely the best, man, but I was just in an overall bad mood. Don't take it personally, cause you are the coolest person ever and there is _no_ way someone could _not_ like you. We good?

He stiffened. For a moment I thought he was going to yell at me and Coach Hedge would have to come up again, but he turned around and I glared at him. He was almost in tears and trying so hard not to laugh at me. Then he lost it.

"You, should have s-seen… y-you should hav-ve heard, the, -the way you s-sounded. Holy Hephaestus, man. You-you sounded like a g-g-girl." he was rolling on the ground in fits of laughter. I gaped at him. I poured out my heart _to_ his _face_. How could he?

I grumbled to myself for the next five minutes, while Leo was still screeching in laughter on the floor in front of me, _actually_ crying. I couldn't believe him. Then someone came up behind me and kissed my cheek. I immediately softened.

"What's going on?" Piper sat down next to me and yawned. She leaned her head on my shoulder and I closed my eyes. She smelled like coconut. Then I remembered Conner, who came up to me right before we left Long Island, and told me he was going to put coconut water in her conditioner. I didn't mind at the time, cause I thought that just meant Piper would smell nice, but Piper started complaining to me earlier saying her hair was suddenly super sticky. I pursed my lips, not wanting her to know that I allowed the Stolls to prank her.

Then I opened my eyes and looked at Leo, who was frowning at us. "Oh come on Pipes!" she opened her eyes against my shoulder, then lifted her head. I wanted to ask her to put her head back down and stay like that forever, but that would maybe sound creepy.

Leo continued, "We were having a bromance moment!"

Piper smiled. Her Aphrodite genes kicked in and she got up, winking back at me as she walked away. "No, Piper!" I whined. "It ended a _long_ time ago, all he was doing was laughing at me the whole time!"

Piper yawned and waved at me dismissively. "I'm tired, you guys. It's like 1:00 am." she walked down the stairs, probably back to her cabin again.

Wait, IT WAS 1:00 ?! Of course it was, stupid me. We left the camp around 4:00 or something, right after having lunch and saying bye to everyone, and I had stayed out longer than I thought. But wait, why was it so bright out? And then I noted something _even_ weirder. Wasn't it pitch black about twenty minutes ago? Something was definitely wrong.

"Hey, Leo!" I yelled to him. He was standing next to the wheel of the ship. I have no idea why we even had one, the ship was controlled automatically by voice command. Leo had used Festus's head previously, but had to install another computer in the ship to replace Festus since he got his body back and all. But knowing Leo, he probably hid some microscopic deadly cannons in the wheel.

"Mhm," he responded distractedly, tinkering with something in his tool belt. I walked up to him.

"Hey, I'm going to go get some sleep. You should too. We're the only ones who've been up here the entire time since we left."

"Mkay." he nodded, clearly still deep in thought. Then he stopped walking.

"Well then who's gonna be a lookout for monsters and stuff?" he asked.

I thought about it too, _until_ I remembered something, or actually, someone.

"Percy," I replied, then laughed to myself. We'd both forgotten he came up here a while ago.

"Hey Perce!" Leo shouted up to him. Percy looked down, almost lost his balance and fell off on the small piece of floor holding him up on the tower, then quickly grabbed a rope and held on to dear life.

"Yea?" he yelled back, trying to figure out a way to _not_ die.

"Oh, we were just gonna go down to our room and get some sleep. You think you'll be fine?" Leo smirked at Percy, who was still trying to climb back up the rope hovering dangerously about 60 feet over the ocean.

"Oh don't mind me, just trying not to get _killed_ before this quest has even _started_. I don't need any help at _all_ ," he told us sarcastically, trying to hint that he seriously did need some help.

Leo, purposely, left him up there. "Oh yeah sure, if you think you're ok. We're gonna go now, if you don't need us or anything. Have fun up there!"

I almost laughed, then debated if I should or should not help him. It _would_ be kind of hard to explain to Poseidon how his son died, plummeting to his death in the ocean. Then something clicked. _That's_ why Leo left him up there.

Percy really seemed like he was struggling now. Leo yelled back at him just as we were walking down the stairs, "Oh and a tip! Usually when you're a son of the _sea god_ , and you fall into the _sea_ , you actually _don't_ die."

Percy frowned at him, confused.

"I know, amazing right?" and with that Leo completely disappeared below deck.

I stayed above and watched Percy, wanting to see how this would play out.

Then Percy's eyes widened as realization flooded his face. He face-palmed himself, stupidly using the hand that was holding onto the rope, and fell into the ocean. I took in a breath and cursed as I rushed to the edge of the boat. Despite his heritage, knowing Percy he'd somehow find a way to drown himself.

Then Percy suddenly rose out of the sea, sitting calmly, legs crossed on a wave that rested him on the ship. He flicked his hand, and the wave dropped lifeless back into the motionless ocean.

"Worried about me, Grace?" he got up and smiled smugly.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, you looked pretty helpless dangling from that rope." I snapped back. He crossed his arms looking a bit embarrassed, and it was my turn to look smug.

"Imagine if I took out one of Leo's security cameras and showed that little clip to the rest of the crew," I suggested. Percy gave me a look. "I'm sure Annabeth would _love_ to see that."

"Aw come on man, truce!" he said, sticking out his pinky.

I retreated from him. "I make _no_ promises."

Percy glared at me, and I smirked. "So uh, enjoy!" I ran down to my cabin below deck before he could catch me. He knew someone had to stay up there, or we could get attacked. You never know with monsters. They were totally unpredictable.

I was thinking about the quest, and what certain lines of the prophecy meant. I sat down on my bed. _Half shall succeed_. Half? Was there another group of demigods that were on the other side? Were they supporting the villain? Who even was it that we were supposed to fight? I got under the covers and closed my eyes. I thought about the lady's voice in my dreams, ' _You will be joined by others…. You will be joined by….'_ and I drifted off to sleep.

 **So what did you guys think? That was probably one of my longer chapters, and I'll try to make the next one even longer! Oh and I think I might be able to publish** ** _another chapter_** **today too! Hope you guys are enjoying this story so far, again please review :) Thx**


	6. Teenage Drama Will Be The Death Of Us

**Kay so, turns out that I couldn't publish another chapter yesterday since I was trying to make this one a teensy bit longer. Hope you enjoy, sorry for the delay ;)**

 **Illiana**

 ***** _Beep Beep Beep*_

 _Ugh._ Why did school have to start in the mornings? Why couldn't it just like, start at 3:00 pm, then end at 3:01 pm.

Who even invented school? Well, they clearly weren't very educated themselves if they thought it would do kids any good. All it does for us is clog our brains with totally unnecessary information, and poison us with the slop they call food. Honestly, when I grow up I will go to to a law school to become a lawyer, then sue that school for all the wrong they're doing to the poor innocent young minds they ruin and torture.

 _Hmph._ And they think they're good people.

With a groan, I realized my alarm clock was still beeping. Who invented alarm clocks? Who in their right minds would invent something that wakes you up in the morning? I groaned. Adults these days.

I blindly stumbled out of bed, in sort of a bad mood. I'm usually a morning person but I stayed up last night late doing homework. I couldn't stop thinking about Hercules.

I went to the bathroom and started quickly brushing my teeth and taking a short bath.

I randomly pulled out some clothes that looked like they matched, and threw them on. I walked over to stand in front of my mirror and winced at my reflection. My _hair_ was an _absolute mess_.

I grumbled to myself as I fingered through the black tangles. Soon enough, my hair was remotely presentable. Kind of.

I debated tying it up, but I decided I was too lazy and went downstairs for breakfast.

I sat down at the dining table, digging into the waffles my aunt had out on the table for me.

"Thanks Sarah, but you really didn't have to," I called out to her.

She back stepped out of the kitchen and gave me a kind smile. "Oh but sweetie, you work so hard in school I thought this was the least I could do." I returned her smile. Work hard in school. Huh. That's funny.

Sarah was the best. She was my mom's sister, and when my mom died when I was six, she came to take care of me. I've been living with her ever since.

Every morning when I come downstairs to make my breakfast, my aunt Sarah has already done it. I insist on making it myself, but you can't argue with her. For a few days I secretly woke up earlier and earlier so I could get ready quick and make my own breakfast, but she's _always_ ready. So I just gave up and went along with her routine.

"Bye Sarah!" I called as I was exiting the front door, "See you after school!"

Sierra Middle was within walking distance of my house, so I walked every morning. All my friends lived the same distance but on the other side of Sierra though, so I couldn't walk with them to school.

I was strolling down the sidewalk, kicking a small rock with my foot, when suddenly I felt a hand enclose around my shoulder.

I let out a little squeal, and someone started laughing. I frowned and turned around. Hercules was smiling back at me, still chuckling slightly. My heart started beating faster.

I glared at him, then started walking again. "That wasn't very nice you know."

"Aw come on, you're no fun."

"What'd you want me to do, burst into fits of laughter with you?"

"Eh, maybe. It's cute when you laugh."

I stopped and looked at him next to me. His face was so close to mine….

"Hmph. Really?" I answered, pretending to ignore what just happened. I continued walking and he just followed.

"And why does it interest you so much?" he smirked at me.

I flushed and looked down. "Who said it does?" I snapped back rudely. I was really blowing it.

He shrugged and held his hands up in defense. "Just asking."

We walked in silence for like, seven seconds.

Then I broke it. "Do you go by Hercules all the time?" he smiled at me as if happy I was talking to him nicely again. I seriously don't know what's wrong with me.

"No actually." I looked up at him.

"Really?" I asked.

"Hi I'm Jace, nice to meet ya."

"Jace? What does that have to do with your name?"

"It's my middle name. I don't really want to go by my Hercules. It's kind of embarrassing, I guess. I never even really tell anybody my first name."

I thought about that. "You told me." I smiled a little.

"I- " he started, and then realized what I said. He blushed furiously and looked away.

"Okay, Jace, tell me your schedule," I said. He gave me a grateful smile, unconsciously, for changing the subject.

"So," Jace started. He mumbled to himself and counted something on his fingers.

"I have… Language Arts first." I gasped.

"So do I!" I mock-pouted. "And I have to spend it with you." I joked, faking a disappointed look while I poked his chest.

He rolled his eyes sarcastically, and I smiled to myself. His eyes were the greatest things since the iPhone. And that's _saying_ something.

"Anyways," he continued, "I have PE next, then break, and after that, I have my elective which is Choir. Then I have science, math, then lunch. And Finally, history!" My jaw dropped, and I just stared.

"You, have the _exact_ same schedule as me," I told him in a state of shock. That was super rare, to have the exact same schedule as someone. There are five different times you can have one teacher, and there are about two or three teachers for each subject, for each grade!

Jace's eyes twinkled mischievously. Then I noted something. "Why didn't I see you in my classes yesterday morning?"

"Well, you see," he started a bit nervously, "I went to the office after school because they wanted to know if I had made any friends and if I wanted to have the same schedule as anyone to make it easier."

"So you said me." I whispered.

"I was going to say no one, then I thought about you, and I said to myself, this is a great opportunity," he looked at me and my heart sped up, "to annoy her even more." then he smirked.

I frowned. Then I sped up my walking leaving him behind.

"Hey wait!" Jace called. "I was only joking!"

"Oh really?" I asked.

"Yea I was just- hey!"

I had started walking faster again. This game was fun. "I can't hear you!" I chorused.

"Well you're never going to, even you keep running away."

"Then I guess you're just gonna have to catch me." I declared.

He caught up with me and tried to grab my arm, but I moved it out of his grasp. He stumbled a bit, and I giggled lightly. I started running towards the school.

"You can't run away from Hercules! I will always find you!" Jace yelled and I laughed at him like, _you wish!_ People were staring at us, but he didn't seem to care.

When he caught up with me again, man he was fast, he made another grab for my arm. With a squeal, I started to sprint towards into school at top speed.

I finally slowed down, completely out of breath and worn out. Jace came from up behind me, and tackled me around the waist, holding on tightly, so that my back was pressed against his chest and his head sort of rested on top of mine. I giggled once, and in two seconds we were in uncontrollable fits of laughter.

I suddenly turned around, and his face was mere centimeters from mine, our foreheads nearly touching. He smiled at me gently, and my heart almost exploded out of my chest. He let go of me and squeezed my arm playfully and I smiled back at him. He was so cute.

"Hey," Jace said, breaking the silence. "School starts at 8:00, and it's like 7:50. Sooooo, what do we do?" I thought about it. I usually go off to my friends by my homeroom, but that would be awkward to bring him too. _Oh!_

"Hey, what's your homeroom?"

He smiled proudly. "Oh. Did I forget to mention, I have that with you too!" I rolled my eyes at him. But then I realized my friends had the same homeroom as us too, so I would have to bring him over with me.

"Lemme show you where it is…"

"Oh and, can you tell me how to pronounce that lady's name?" he asked nervously. "It would be kind of embarrassing to say it wrong, and I'm kinda stuck with her for a year and all…" Jace gave me a hopeful look.

"Well, that _would_ be kinda funny too watch," I joked. His jaw dropped.

"What? No way, seriously?"

I shrugged. "Think about it. You'll become famous around the school. More specifically, a laughing stock." I teased him mercilessly. His eyebrows scrunched together in a cute, worried look. It made me laugh a little.

"What?! But when I walk into her class, she's gonna ask me to clarify my homeroom teacher or something, and I'm totally gonna pronounce her name wrong!"

I looked at Jace's face. He was clearly in distress, but it was hilarious. I really am a horrible person.

"Oh come on, it's not that hard," I lied, knowing fully well that it was impossible. I've perfected it by now, having her for over two years, but Jace would surely get a detention. Our homeroom teacher _hated_ it when people pronounced her name wrong.

Then the bell rang, signaling for us to go into our homerooms. Jace was begging and pleading with me, all the way up to the classroom. I saw my friends just walking in while raising their eyebrows playfully and giving my questioning glances. Adrianna nudged them and whispered something, and they all snickered and winked at me. I blushed deeply, hoping Jace wouldn't notice.

I looked over at him, just as we were walking inside, and looked right about ready to have a panic attack. I finally gave in and ushered him over to me and my friends' table. They glanced back and forth between us, occasionally whispering and giggling with each other. I blushed again and tried to ignore them.

"Guys," I said giving them a warning glare. They took it lightly. "This is," then I hesitated. I gave Jace a questioning glance, but he nodded approvingly. "This is Hercules." I finished. They looked kinda in shock. Except for Adrianna.

"But he goes by Jace." they all nodded, then looked back and forth between us again and again, as if trying to read our faces and movements. I left it alone and turned to Jace.

"Say it," I asked Jace. My friends looked at us.

"What?" he asked distractedly, probably still thinking about how to pronounce the teacher's name.

I almost laughed at him again, wondering how he could be stressing out about something so small. But then again, the teacher's consequence of detention probably wasn't very good for Jace, being the new kid and all.

I glanced over at the teacher, to make sure she hadn't noticed there was someone new, then whispered, "Pronounce the teacher's name, try your best."

He looked worriedly at me, then gulped. "Ms. Beauséjour."

I winced and my jaw dropped. "Holy moly you're a lost cause," I muttered, not realizing I just blurted it out. His eyes widened in a panicky manner. Stupid me. Our homeroom teacher was French, so her last name was Beauséjour. But Jace pronounced it like, ' Bay- see- joy- er '

"Um, ha" I gave a nervous chuckle. "I _meant_ , you don't pronounce it like that." Jace looked worried.

"Okay, say 'Bow- seh- johr'." He squinted at me.

"Bow- see…. Joor?" he said hopefully. I blew out air. I probably had like thirty seconds before Mrs. Beauséjour turned up from her work and addressed Jace.

"Ok, so you don't say 'Bow- see', its 'Bow- seh' as in the 'ce' in celebrate."

"Oh ok." He took a deep breath. "Bow- seh- joor." he smiled at me and I smiled back nervously.

"Not quite." his face fell, and my heart ached on the inside. The phone started ringing in the classroom, and it was probably the office calling to tell Mrs. Beauséjour that there was a new student in her class. I started panicking too.

"Okay so don't say ' j '. Say ' j '." He gave me a confused look, so I explained further.

"Say ' j ' with a combination of the sounds ' j ' and ' sh '. Try it." He tried making the French ' j ' and nailed it. I gave him a little high-five, just as I noticed Mrs. Beauséjour look over at Jace and nod her head, still on the phone with the office.

"Okay, now say 'johr', not 'joor'. 'Johr' sounds airier, with less emphasis on the 'oo' and the 'r'. Like you're saying... shoe!" He nodded slowly, and I realized he was staring at me, straight into my eyes. I looked back and blushed. Again. For like the hundredth time today. What was this boy doing to me?

I snapped back to reality when he tried again. "Ms. Beauséjour." he said carefully. I smiled brightly at him, and he took the hint and started smiling too.

"I did it!" he exclaimed softly. Just at that moment, Mrs. Beauséjour called Jace to come up to her desk at the front of the classroom. When he started to go, I grabbed his arm, pulling him down, and whispered in his ear.

"Call her 'Mrs.' she's married." he winked at me and walked off, leaving me grinning goofily. We were so desperate to have him learn that name, I didn't even realize how funny the situation was until now.

Sure enough, I heard Mrs. Beauséjour ask Jace to clarify who his homeroom teacher was, and when he pronounced it perfectly, the teacher almost dropped her papers in shock, and smiled at him. Wow, _smiled_? I don't think Mrs. Beauséjour was even _capable_ of smiling. She quickly introduced Jace to the class, and he started walking back to our table.

I turned around to the rest of my table, still grinning like a maniac, and stared into my friends' shocked faces.

"Girl, you are head over heels." Cali whispered to me, just before Jace came over and sat down. I looked at Jace as he took his spot next to me, thinking about what Lacie had said.

Once again, I found his mesmerizing and beautiful blue eyes. How could someone _not_ like him?

The bell suddenly rang to go to the first period.

"Come on, Illiana, to language arts!" he bellowed, and I couldn't help but giggle. I followed him out of homeroom, and after telling him he was going in the wrong direction, grabbed his arm and pulled him towards our next class.

On the way, we passed the bathrooms and he told me he needed to go, so I stood out the bathroom leaning against the wall, waiting for him.

When he came out though, before I could move he put his forearm against the wall above my head and leaned over me.

"Hey." he smiled softly at me. My heart was doing somersaults in my chest.

"Uhhh" I was totally speechless.

Then suddenly, I looked into his eyes again, but I couldn't turn away. He noticed me staring, and gave me an adorable little grin, but somehow, I still couldn't look away.

His eyes, there were truly special, and there was something about them. They looked powerful, brave, like he would volunteer to fight in a war if it meant saving something he cared about. He seemed like that type of person too.

I suddenly had a flashback of yesterday, when Ms. Fury _hurt_ me, and Jace suddenly had the guts to stand up to her. He was amazing.

Jace noticed that I kept staring into his eyes, and he started staring intensely into mine too. We couldn't take our eyes off each other. I suddenly wanted to kiss him so bad, and I've only known him for less than two hours but I already felt like I could trust him with my life. I didn't even know it, but our faces were gradually inching closer, until again, our foreheads and noses were just barely touching. I don't even know when we held hands, but now I noticed his thumb gently stroking the back of my hand, as his eyes flickered off my mine, just for a second, and down to my lips. What in the world was happening?

 **Adrianna**

I stared at the two in amazement. It was the most… well it was definitely the weirdest thing I've ever seen, but it was like those two were made for each other.

Okay so yes, me, Cali, Lacie and Lexie had followed Jace and Illiana. Lacie and Lexie were mostly doing it cause they didn't trust the two of them together, Cali had nowhere else to go, and I was here out of plain curiosity.

Illiana liked him, cause she described him as though he were an angel, at lunch yesterday. But the fact was, that he _definitely_ liked her too. The way he kept looking at her when she wasn't looking, _and_ when she was looking.

They were such a perfect match, it made my heart ache. It was like watching the most beautiful romance movie ever, but it made you feel the saddest cause you knew you could never have something that magical. Except it was proven in real life by these two.

I saw the way Illiana watched Jace longingly, as they continued to stare into each other's eyes. And this morning when they were walking into homeroom, she was grinning like a maniac, and Jace smiled at her like she was the light of his life. And now he looked like he so badly wanted so bad to pick her up, spin her around and kiss her.

I was really into romance and stuff like that. I could totally tell when two people liked each other, and my senses were _so_ tingling as I stared at these two.

Then suddenly, there were staring into each other's eyes so hard, I thought they could have burst. Then they started moving closer, as if they were in a trance, until they looked like they were about to kiss. I know this was a moment and all, but we were in middle school! None of the touchy kissy stuff happens til' high school. And I didn't want Illiana's heart to get broken.

But I knew Jace wouldn't do that. I saw what he did for Illiana yesterday, standing up for her protectively. I shuddered at the thought of Ms. Fury, and what she did. I remember right after her conversation with the two, something happened to my memory. And right after class Illiana asked me about the teacher and I couldn't really remember what happened, like my brain was going all fuzzy. Then later that night I had a dream of what had happened in school, and the memory came flooding back to me. That was super weird. Should I have gone to the doctor or something?

Anyways, after how he bravely took on that _monster_ , I decided he really did like her.

Then I realized something. _No._ They didn't just _like_ each other. They were in _love._ It was must have been love at first sight, because it was the most beautiful thing in the world. But Illiana needed to think about this. She needed to decide if she was ready for that. I really did care about her. Out of our friends, me and Ily had been friends for the longest since kindergarten, and now we were only in middle school, and I didn't want her to do something she would regret. I would talk to her later, but right now, I had to stop this.

They were only inches apart, when I coughed.

 **Jace**

I looked into her beautiful, shining brown eyes. It was like they were drawing me in, putting me in a trance that I didn't want to escape from. I glanced down at her lips. I wanted to kiss her so badly, but that wouldn't be fair to her. I couldn't do something like that. I only met her yesterday, and I've known her for less than two hours. But if it were my choice, I would be with her forever.

She seemed to notice, and her face pulled just a little closer. We were inches apart, and I couldn't hold back anymore, when someone coughed. I saw her eyes widen, and she immediately backed her face away, as she looked at her friends. She slipped under my arm, before whispered faintly, _I'm sorry_ , and then she ran away with her hands over her eyes.

God I'm so stupid. I shouldn't have done that, but I just couldn't stop myself. She was so beautiful. And now she hates me.

I cursed myself and glanced up, to see her friends looking at me with faces of shock, and anger.

Two of them, who looked like twins, turned to each other then looked back at me with faces of disgust. "How could you do this to her!" and with that, they stormed off, probably to go comfort Illiana and tell her there were better guys out there. I looked at the ground helplessly.

Another girl gave me a look of sympathy, and followed the two twins. Then only me and Adrianna were left. I looked up at Adrianna, and she sighed.

"What's your first class?" she asked me, raising her eyebrows at my shocked face.

"Well?" she asked again impatiently. I realized the bell was probably going to ring any minute now, and I should probably listen to her.

"Um, language arts?"

"You don't seem so sure."

"I'm pretty sure."

"Ok whatever. Which one?" I gave her a questioning look, and she repeated,

"Which one? What's their name? The teacher's name."

"Ummm," I'd forgotten, but if I told her to just take me to Illiana's class, I would have to explain to Adrianna why I had the same classes as Illiana.

I finally decided that I didn't really have a choice, so I told her about how I requested the same schedule as Illiana. She asked me why, and I stuttered for a few seconds. I could have sworn she smiled for a second and mumbled something under her breath, before maintaining a straight face and asking me to follow her.

"Adrianna?" I asked.

"Everyone calls me Adri. Adrianna's kinda a mouthful."

I hesitated for a second. "Okay, Adri."

"So what were you asking?"

"Oh yeah, um, why don't you hate me?"

She gave me a questioning look. "All your other friends don't really look like they like me. How come you don't hate me too?"

She smiled to herself. "I trust you." she responded.

"What?" I said, confused.

"I trust you, with Illiana."

I froze. She trusted me with Illiana? What did that mean? And there was no point anyway, Illiana was like a dream come true, but, I totally blew it. I thought about my mistake sadly.

And I couldn't ask any more questions either because I realized, we were here. And just in time too. The bell rang right as we hurried inside the classroom. But right there, sitting next to the only spot left, was _Illiana_.

 **So, um, LONGEST. CHAPTER. EVER?! This is why it took me so long to publish the sixth chapter, so super duper sorry. Ok fine, I know this chapter isn't that long, but still, by my standards, it's pretty long. I'm already halfway through with the 7th chapter. Please review, tell me if you guys like the chapters longer or shorter. I'll be back soon :P**


	7. Boy Talk Should Totally Be A Thing

**Hey guys! I did another long chapter, please review. Enjoy :)**

 **Illiana**

Okay, okay, I know. I shouldn't have run out of the scene like that. But I was just feeling so overwhelmed I don't think I could take another look at Jace's face without _actually_ kissing him.

I think I needed to go to the doctor. Was there a cure for a gone rogue heart, loss of memory when it comes to the English language, and high blood pressure (especially around the face region) ?

My knees were super wobbly and my eyes were slightly red. I was sitting outside the other bathrooms with my head resting on my knees, wondering what to do next. If I tried to stand up I would probably just collapse again and start crying. Luckily, someone, well actually just two clones of each other, came running up to me.

"ILY!" they both screamed. Lexie and Lacie wrapped their arms around me. "I can't believe he almost _kissed_ you," Lexie whispered, clearly disgusted. "How dare he force you into something like that. You would never want to kiss someone like _him_." Lacie said, mimicking her twin's same level of disgust. I winced and covered my head with my hands.

"Wait," Lacie hesitated. "You _didn't_ want to kiss him, right?" Lexie looked at me skeptically.

"Uh, well I- I wasn't- I just wanted- I mean I don't- didn't mean- Ummm," I stumbled over my words. They gasped.

"Ily," Lexie said softly, "Do you like that- that-"

"That what?" I snapped, annoyed. Then I frowned, mostly at myself. Why was I being so defensive of him? These were my best friends, and they were just here to comfort me. But, if they really cared about me, they would trust me to make my own decisions. _Especially_ decisions about my love life.

"Chill Ily. Were only trying to help you. You _have_ to stay away from people like-"

"People like what, huh?" Now I was mad. I didn't _have_ to do anything. "Don't you judge him. You haven't even met him! How dare _you_. Why can't you stop picking on people who haven't done anything wrong? I _wanted_ to kiss him. That was _my_ choice. And if you guys were really my friends, you would've trusted me. You would've _believed_ in me to be able to handle myself. And what's wrong with me if I do like him? Am I _that_ kind of person now?" I turned around and huffed off. _When did I start crying again,_ I thought, as I wiped the stray tears off my cheek.

I walked in and sat down in an empty chair in language arts. No more problems for today. I'll just avoid all the rest of the drama. But wait, I realized. Jace… his schedule… oh god no. Right at that moment Adrianna walked in and sat in a chair on the opposite side of the classroom, with a certain someone right behind her.

I looked around. The only remaining spot was….. I quickly turned away, blushing, as Jace uncomfortably walked over and plopped down next to me.

"Today, you're all getting back your spelling tests from yesterday." the teacher stared us down through her small spectacles that were sitting on the bridge of her nose and grunted. "Just a little _hint._ They were absolutely dreadful! With a, uh, small exception." she glanced over at me, with just a little hint of pride, and I smirked at the kids staring in shock at their big, fat, F's.

Then I noticed Jace looking curiously at me. I turned away subtly, not wanting to stray into that kissing scene again. My face flushed, thinking about that moment, just ten minutes earlier. The way he was looking at me…. The way I almost-

"If you have a C- or lower I will contact your parents, B+ or higher, congratulations, you might just make it to college." Half the class groaned, and I snickered at them.

What was so hard about all this? It was boring, yes, but the incredible easiness of it was what made it so. Well, others were a little behind, but honestly, how difficult was it to spell ominous and persuasive? They sounded like they belonged in a 5th-grade spelling list to me, but believe it or not, they were for 8th graders.

"You did quite good there, Illiana." Jace looked over me, at the A+ on my spelling test. My breath hitched, and my heart did a little unplanned dance. I loved the way he said my name.

"Uh, yeah." I stuttered. Wasn't this awkward for him?

"You look pretty ah, tongue-tied." he laughed a little.

I gaped at him. Was he seriously finding this funny? I'll show him.

"Really? Seems you didn't do too well on yours though, huh? What, were you that bad a student at your old school?" I looked at the C+ on his own paper. He must have taken the test yesterday, on his first day. He chuckled and held his hands up in defense.

"Spelling isn't my thing." he said casually.

"Oh yeah? Then what is? Lousy grades and bad athletic skill?" I suggested, noticing his structure. He was lean and had defined muscles, but he definitely wasn't as huge and as buff as some of the other kids in school that were great athletes.

He just laughed again. "No actually, it's poetry." he smirked at my expression. _Poetry_. That was probably the only thing I sucked at.

"And you'd be surprised," he continued, "at how well I can manage a bow." A bow? As in, bow and arrow? Jeez. Jace never seizes to amaze me.

"Really? I'm absolutely dreadful at poetry, and I don't think I've ever even seen a bow and arrow."

"I could teach you sometime."

"Poetry or the bow?"

"Either. I can imagine you suck at both."

"Hey-"

"Oops, sorry. What I meant was, you most definitely suck at both."

"Hmph. Well even though I may be horrible at those things, I'm pretty sure I'm better than you in about everything else in the entire world."

"Pfft. The only reason I can't spell that great, or do anything that great when it comes to academics, is cause I have dyslexia."

I gasped. "You do? So do I! Well I have a super mild form of it, so only when I try to read something that is just more complicated, do the words get mixed up. Like that gas station near the school that has its name in big neon yellow cursive letters. I _definitely_ can't read that."

"Well, I also have ADHD, so I'm pretty good at quite a few sports-"

"You've gotta be kidding."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I have ADHD too."

"Huh…" he said, shocked as I was. "But I'm probably still a better athlete than you."

"Ha! You wish!"

This went on for a while. Sometime in the middle of the period the teacher had assigned us a project to write a book of poems, due next week, Friday. Today was Friday, so we had a week to do it which was good, cause as I said before, I _suck_ at poetry.

We were supposed to write 20 poems, and at least 2 of every type of poem there is. While I was struggling, Jace was laughing at me and writing his 10th poem already.

I groaned. "How do you _do_ that?"

"I'm just a natural born poet. But you know, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it….eventually."

I switched my expression to that of mock-hurt, and we continued laughing and insulting each other until the class was over. Everything was fine again.

 **Jace**

We walked outside the language arts classroom once the bell rang.

I held out my arm, gentleman style, and she giggled lightly taking it.

"Where to, m'lady?" I asked in a horrible fake-British accent.

"To the gym, brave sir!" she responded, playing along. She had an amazing sense of humor. She continued,

"Where we shall conquer the art, of track and field!"

"Track and field?" I asked smiling. Oh, I could _do_ track and field.

"Oh, well since you have the same schedule as me you're in my PE class, and the unit we're doing this month is track and field. I always have the second or first place timing or amount in each event." she added proudly. Wow, she was _almost_ as good as me.

"And today, we're doing relay races. Don't even bother trying, I got this one in the bag."

"Okay," I said calmly, then smirked at her. She would have _no_ idea what hit her.

We both arrived at the gym, and she showed me where the boys locker rooms were. I walked inside and and got changed into the PE clothes I got from me the office yesterday.

I went outside to see Illiana and and that other girl from earlier who had been sympathetic towards me, sitting on the ground and talking, already changed. Who ever said that girls take a long time to get ready?

I walked over to them, and Illiana saw me.

She rolled her eyes playfully at me, then walked over.

"Jace," she said slowly, "You need to find some more friends, _male_ friends. Go over there." she pointed to a couple of boys leaning against a wall in the gym. "They're nice."

I frowned at her, and she laughed, then I walked over to them. "Hey," I said, and they looked up at me and smiled. Okay, this was good.

"Hey man, come and sit down. We're," he looked around skeptically, "strategizing." he whispered. He had straight black hair and dark brown eyes. I raised my eyebrows at them as I sat down.

"Okay so the thing is," another boy with blonde hair and green eyes spoke up, "Don't laugh now, but we're trying to find a way to beat the girls. I swear to god, they are the fastest people alive."

Another boy with curly brown hair and blue eyes (like mine) looked at me, "It doesn't help that they've got Illiana, I mean, she's so fast I can't even blink before she's at the finish line!"

"So," declared the boy with blonde hair, "we are trying to figure out who should run against her. Who should run last? Cause obviously since she's the fastest she would go last, but we can't figure who should run against her. I mean, no one really wants to. She would whip our butts." he added with a laugh.

"I'll do it." I thought about it. I'm plenty fast, and she could be a challenge. That was always fun. But the boys stared at me in shock.

"You sure man? Blake over here suggested that we play it out with rock, paper, scissors."

Blake, the blond haired and green eyed dude, said "I'm all for volunteers guys, but I just didn't think anyone would want to run against her. If you really want to I guess, but _you have been warned."_ he said in a funny deep voice. I laughed a bit.

"Don't worry about it, I got this one."

"Kay dude, by the way, the name's Max." informed the guy with black hair and brown eyes.

"And I'm Jett." the brown haired boy with blue eyes smiled at me.

"So now we know who is running against Illiana. We definitely know that Cali and Adrianna are in her team. I'll run against Adrianna." Jett claimed. Max nudged my shoulder and whispered to me.

"Jett's just saying that cause he likes her." I snickered at them.

"Shut it." Jett muttered.

"I'll run against Cali." declared Blake. I looked over at Illiana and the other girl I didn't know. That must have been Cali.

"Does Cali stand for something?" I asked.

"Callisto." Blake narrowed his eyes at me.

"Ignore him," Max told me. "He likes her too."

Blake glared at Max but didn't deny it.

"Don't worry guys. I like someone else." I blurted out, and covered my mouth. Blake's face immediately became friendly again, and they all looked at me curiously.

"Who is it," Max prodded with his eyebrows raised. As if on reflex, I looked over at Illiana, then my eyes widened and I looked back at the boys hoping they didn't notice.

But I lost hope when I saw Max almost laughing his head off, "You- you like her? No way man- she- she would kick your butt!"

Jett sighed. "Just let him be for a few minutes. He did this same thing when he got our crushes out of us."

I smiled evilly at the two. "So you admit that he was right then? About who you two like?"

Blake cursed. "Well I guess there's no going back now." And I smiled at him.

"Hey we never got your name." Max looked up, finally done laughing at me.

"I go by Jace, my middle name." They looked at me curiously, and I hesitated. "My first name is… Hercules." They were speechless for a second, before the burst.

"Man that's so cool- lucky you- I wish my name- your parents- is totally awesome- cool beans!" They talked over each other, not at all what I was expecting. They thought my name was awesome. They wished they had my name. Huh. I could get used to this. But I still liked the name Jace better.

When they calmed down again, Jett asked, "Wait how do we figure out what order the other girls are going in?"

Max's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Come with me!" he exclaimed. We followed him skeptically, and before we knew it, we were standing right behind the girls. Oh god.

Illiana turned around and smiled at me. "Jace!" she said. I smiled back and sat down next to her.

"So," I said, drawing invisible circles on the floor. "What order are you guys going in?"

She raised her eyebrows at me, and I gave her my best award-winning smile, but it didn't seem to affect her. I sighed. _Oh well_.

"Why?" she asked. She poked my chest, and it sent tingles down my spine.

"Uh," I shook my head, " We were planning in our group, who's running against who, but for that, we need to know your order." I finished.

She leaned her elbow on my shoulder, and gave me a playful eye-roll. "Okay, okay. Her name, is Natalie," she started, pointing to a small l girl with blonde hair. She gave me a little wave. "she is running second. Cali is first, and Adrianna is third. And I'm running last." I laughed and she gave me a look.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm running against you." I smirked proudly at her.

She shrugged, as if it didn't make a difference. "Then this should be easy." she said calmly, trying to hide a smile.

"You wish."

"Oh you're on."

"Prepare to eat dust."

"I'm not going to bother arguing with you, cause I already know I'll win."

"Fine, whatever. Anyways, Mark you run second, against Natalie." I told Mark.

"Who's running against me?" Adrianna asked, subtly glancing over at a certain someone.

"Jett called it!" blurted Mark. Jett calmy walked over to Mark and punched him in the arm, _hard_.

"YOUCH! Uh, I mean- he just. _Ugh._ Jeez buddy I just let it slip!" Mark complained to Jett.

Adrianna giggled and looked at Jett, and he blushed slightly. Adrianna totally liked him too.

"And I'm running against Cali." Blake announced. Cali looked at him and gave a little finger-wave, and Blake smiled at her.

"Okay, let's go guys. You gotta give the girls some space to have their girl talk, while _we_ ," I gestured at me and the boys, " _actually_ strategize. I meant it as a joke, but as soon as we went over to our old spot, Jett and Blake broke down.

"What do you think they're talking about?"

"Do you think they like us?"

"Is that really what they talk about?"

"What _is_ girl talk even?"

"I don't know, man."

"It's a dangerous subject."

"We have to find out."

"Wouldn't that be awkward?"

"What choice do we have really?"

"You're right man, we have to know."

"So what are we supposed to do?"

"What if girl talk is talking about boys?"

"And gossiping about other girls?"

"No that's ridiculous."

"I guess so, then what is it?"

"Someone has to go investigate."

"Someone has to prove their worth to us."

"Someone has to volunteer."

Then they looked at me. "Uh, what?"

"Hey man." Jett said to me. "You see, to really be our friend, you have to prove your undying loyalty to us and complete a dangerous task."

"Dangerous task?"

"Life-threatening even."

"Life-threatening?"

"You might not come back alive."

I gulped. "Um, not alive?" I repeated nervously.

"Yes." he told me sadly. "You must find out,"

I gave him a look of uncertainty.

"What girl talk is." he finished. I gaped at him. This was worse than I thought. I gulped and they patted me on the back telling me it was nice knowing me.

I took a deep breath, and walked over to the girls. Cali noticed me first and nudged the rest of the girls, who immediately shut up as soon as they all saw me.

I sat down next to Illiana, who gave me a look, and then raised her eyebrows at me.

"What?" I asked.

The girls exchanged looks of annoyance with each other, and Illiana glared at me.

"You know, just, pretend I'm a girl and continue your girl talk session." I leaned back on my elbows and gestured for them to continue.

"You know, just, pretend we're not girls and continue to sit there while we beat you up." she mimicked me in a pretty good imitation of my voice.

"Hey, take it easy, I just wanted to… uh, join in, you know?"

"Uh, no, we don't know." I frowned at her, and she sighed annoyingly. "See you can't exactly have girl talk in front of a boy." Hmph. Fine. I tried.

"Arrowhead." she muttered to me as I made my way back to the rest of the boys. I smiled. She must have thought of that nickname because I told her about my skill with a bow and arrow.

The boys smiled at me as I walked back, and I told them of my failed mission to find out what girl talk is.

"Man we were just messing with you about the mission and undying loyalty junk." Blake snickered.

"You were our friend before you even came over here." said Mike sappily.

"The bromance lives on!" yelled Jett.

"Ew." Blake muttered, and I laughed. "You guys are too gushy for me."

Just then the coach walked in, and told us to split up into teams of four, so my group just stayed where we were. In the end there were eight teams, four groups of boys and four groups of girls. I guess everyone was just more comfortable with their own gender. So we had two races, two groups of boys and girls in each race.

When Illiana's group got picked to run in the first race, my group immediately volunteered. Then another group of really chatty girls got picked. They looked like they cared more about their nails than the race. Another group of boys who didn't look very athletic were picked, so I guessed that the only competition was Illiana and her girls.

Blake and Cali were the first runners, and Blake told Cali good luck, making her blush. When the coach blew the whistle, Cali and Blake burst off at top speed, leaving the other two runners in the dust. Blake was fast, but not compared to Cali who passed the baton to Natalie about five whole seconds before Blake.

Max and Natalie were about the same speed, so Natalie stayed at her five-second lead for the whole lap. When the baton was passed to Adrianna she took off at top speed, which was about the same, maybe faster, than Natalie. Jett however, burst passed Adrianna and reached me at the same time Adrianna reached Illiana.

Me and Illiana grabbed the baton from our friends and started running. We stayed at the same speed for the entire race, until the end. Illiana suddenly starting sprinting so hard it looked like her legs were going to fall off. I panted and caught up with her. We finished at the _exact_ same time, a complete tie. The coach was so shocked he almost forgot to blow his whistle.

"TIE!" he yelled. After I caught my breath I glanced behind my shoulder and snickered at the two other teams, still on their third lap. One of the girls were just walking while admiring their nails, and the boy who was ' _jogging'_ , was so tired he was going slower than the girl.

I walked up to Illiana, who was still panting, and put my arm around her. She glared up at me playfully, before smiling a little.

We went off towards the locker rooms and changed back into our clothes. When I came out, I walked over to Illiana.

"You were pretty good," she told me.

"You weren't so bad yourself, Illiana."

"You're lucky I went easy on you Arrowhead."

"Why don't I have a nickname for you?" I pouted. She shrugged.

"Just, call me Ily. That's already my nickname."

"Okay, but I have to have my own special nickname for you. I'll think about it."

She groaned and dragged me towards the lunch tables for break. On the inside, I smiled to myself. Something told me this was going to be a good year.

 **YAY ! How'd you guys like that? If you miss Percy and his buddies, don't worry they are in the next chapter! Now, since the weekend is over it might take me more than a day to publish another chapter. Then again, maybe not. Stay tuned :P**


	8. We Have A Delightful Talk About Our Doom

**Okay guys, I'm SO sorry it was late, I just had so much homework. I literally wrote the whole chapter today. Please forgive me if you think it's too short!**

 **Annabeth**

I was having another nightmare. We were in Greece, at the Parthenon in the Athenian Acropolis. I recognized it immediately, from the last time I'd been there. Not good memories.

I was walking through the same tunnel that I had been through last time, along with Percy, Piper, Leo, and Calypso. Hazel, Frank and Jason, were nowhere to be seen.

But wait, there were two more. I'd never seen them before, but they looked like they were with us. All of us were pretty battered up, especially Calypso. She was wearing a makeshift sling and was leaning on Leo heavily, who was trying his best to hold her up, slightly limping.

I looked over at Percy, who had scratches and bruises all over his right arm, and a deep gash on his cheek. There was blood smeared on Piper's face, but I couldn't see any visible wounds. Her eyes were red and puffy, as though she had been crying. I grimaced, not even wanting to know the state I was in.

Then, a blinding white light filled the tunnel. ' _Well done, young heroes._ ' said a beautiful voice. Then it turned dark as night. ' _But you should not have come_ '.

I jolted awake, sweating. I looked down at the side of my bed, and almost screamed. A body was lying on the floor next to my bed.

Wait, it was just Percy, I realized. Percy had came running to my room from above deck earlier when he heard my screaming from a previous nightmare. Then he stayed with me and slept on the floor.

I smiled down at him. He looked so peaceful and I didn't want to wake him up but, glancing at the clock across the room, I decided 7:30 was a reasonable time to start getting ready.

I slipped out of bed and crouched down next to him. I kissed his cheek, and his eyes flew open. I giggled at him, and he smiled as he leaned upwards and kissed my lips softly.

"Oi lovebirds." a voice sang. "No kissing in front of the crew. Me ship's a clean place!"

I turned towards the door, annoyed, as I caught a glimpse of Leo just walking out the door. Then from outside, I heard another voice.

"Leo! Leave them alone!" It was Calypso.

"Aw come on honey, I was just joking with them."

"Well you ruined their moment. I think they're adorable together."

"I think we're adorable together."

"Eh. Maybe a little."

"I'll prove it to you."

"How?"

"Allow me milady."

Then there was no more talking. I raised my eyebrows at Percy, and he winked. They got the right idea, I thought, as I leaned down towards Percy again. I pulled away after a few seconds, leaving him with a disappointed look in his face.

"Come on Seaweed Brain." I called to him as I went into my bathroom to change. "Let's go get ready. I've got something important to tell everyone at breakfast today."

Percy groaned sleepily, and lumbered off to his own cabin, earning a suspicious glare from Coach Hedge as he exited my room. I smirked, and stared brushing my teeth.

"BREAKFAST TIME PEOPLES!" Leo yelled through the already amplifying speakers. I groaned. I was gonna have a little _talk_ with Leo about his daily annoyances. Uh, did I say annoyances? I meant announcements.

I lumbered down to the 'mess hall' as Leo called it, which sported one super long table and… well that's about it.

Hazel and Calypso were already there, talking about something together, and Percy was sleeping on his blue pancakes.

I laughed at him, and picked up a napkin as I walked over.

"Hey Perce. Percy!" I shook him, but is was no use. Then I got an idea.

"Hey Percy! Someone ate your blue pancakes!"

On reflex, Percy's eyes sprang wide open and he jumped out of his chair opening Riptide midair. He swung around and pointed the sword to the closest person's neck, " _No_ one, takes _my_ pancakes."

Then Percy blinked rapidly and slowly retreated the point of the sword from a bewildered Frank's neck.

Percy turned around and cracked a nervous smile. I walked over and ruffled his hair. "I just said that so you would wake up." I lifted the napkins and wiped traces of syrup of his face. "Are you _that_ tired?

He groaned. "Well your floor isn't very comfortable. And I was above deck for a long time before I could finally convince Frank to man up and keep watch." He raised his eyebrows over at Frank, who yawned.

"What? I was tired too." he said defensively. Hazel walked over and patted his shoulder, and he smiled. I just realized something. Now everyone one the _Argo II_ was with someone. I had Percy, Piper had Jason, Hazel had Frank, Coach Hedge had his wife, and even Leo had Calypso. It was weird. Aphrodite must be working full-time.

Just then Leo and Jason came into the mess hall for breakfast, arguing about something as they sat down. "Please!" whined Jason. "Just that one security camera above deck. Just that one." he repeated.

Leo groaned. "Jason do you know how hard it is to get that camera down? It's all the way high up on the tower. Only you would be able to fly up and get it, and I don't want anyone messing with my stuff."

"Oh come on." Jason argued. "You can tell me how! Trust me, it'll be worth it, everyone's gonna wanna see Percy-"

"Hey!" Percy jumped in. "I thought we agreed we would leave that clip alone?"

"Actually I believe I said, and I quote, 'I make no promises'." Jason grinned evilly at Percy, who stared back at him with a face of shock.

"Oh, that's just low man. Just low." Percy muttered.

"What're you guys talking about?" I asked curiously.

Percy's eyes widened and he gave a nervous chuckle. "Oh nothing, you were saying about your important news?"

"Your Seaweed Brain was just living up to his name." Leo muttered under his breath.

"What was that Valdez?" Percy shot up from his chair and glared at Leo.

Leo took it lightly, and even chuckled. "Oh I was just telling Annabeth here-"

"Shut it."

"Well I actually thought it was pretty funny."

"Would you think it was funny if I summoned a wave to pluck you off your own ship and drown you?"

"Well I was thinking it would be more funny if I burned you to a crisp."

"Well what I think you both would find funny, is if I sweet-talked you into strangling yourselves until you dropped dead on the floor, never to bother the crew of the _Argo II_ again." Piper cheerfully walked into the mess hall and plopped down next to Jason. She grabbed my waffle taking a big bite, then raised her eyebrows at everyone. Just then Coach Hedge came in and sat down too.

"Okay," I volunteered, before anyone could start talking. "So I had a dream last night." The rest of the crew suddenly leaned forward in their seats, more interested now. Dreams were important because for demigods, they were usually real. And they could be useful, especially right now in the midst of another dangerous quest.

"It was about us. Percy, Piper, Leo, Calypso and I were in the tunnels that we went through last time to get to the Parthenon."

"Where were _we_?" Frank questioned worriedly.

"That's it." I responded. "I don't know."

"But hey," Jason jumped in. "Don't you realize, all the Greeks are in that tunnel, but all the Romans aren't."

"He's right!" Piper agreed. "But, why are we separated?"

"I don't know but, the Greeks are in Greece," Jason said slowly, "Which means the Romans are probably…"

"In Rome!" Percy finished.

"No, really?" I said sarcastically, teasing him. He gave me a proud grin, and I rolled my eyes at him playfully.

"That answers the question about the prophecy not specifying 'ancient lands'. Because we go to both." Hazel added.

"But what about the other lines?" Leo questioned.

"Yea, like 'Half shall succeed for worse or better'." Hazel pointed out grimly.

"That means there's probably a group or something, that are the children of the gods. But they're not on our side." said Percy.

"Yea so, the prophecy says half of us will succeed, the bad side or the good side. Well, duh! Someone wins the battle. Could the prophecy be more Captain Obvious?" Coach Hedge said, annoyed.

"Coach, that actually helps us a lot." I realized. "Now we know that half of the children of the gods are not on our side. If that line wasn't there, we would have thought all the demigods were fighting for the good side, and we could have been betrayed or tricked into to helping the other side. We'll be ready."

"But who _is_ this 'other side'?" Leo asked, while poking a pancake into his mouth..

"He's right. So much seems to revolve around them. Finding out who they are could be a key to figuring out everything else, especially how to defeat them." Piper explained.

"The first line, 'Day falls to Night', that can be a clue. Day and Night are probably the main parts of this. How are they important exactly?" Frank asked.

"I think I've already figured that out." Everyone turned to Calypso. She had been awfully quiet, but she had a determined look on her face now.

"I'm sure of it actually," she added more confidently. "Day and Night, they're people, beings. Like the gods." she smiled proudly at herself. "Day, Hemera, is getting weaker. She is falling to Night."

Percy's eyes widened. "Annabeth… remember at the mansion…"

I nodded and turned to the group. "Nyx." I looked at Calypso and she smiled grimly.

"When me and Percy were in Tartarus, we ran into Nyx. We had to escape through her Mansion of Night… and all her children…"

"Annabeth," Percy turned to me warily. "What if… what if she brought all her children with her?"

I shivered at the thought. "I hope not, but I doubt she didn't. We are gonna need a _lot_ more help than we thought."

"And Nyx must have done something to her daughter, Hemera." Percy suggested.

" 'Day falls to night on the winter solstice'." Jason repeated. "What does that mean?"

"I think," Hazel started nervously, "That that means by the winter solstice, Night will finally win and Day will just, fade away completely. I mean she's already started. Hav you realized how dark it is outside lately?" she finished.

Frank look scared. "So that means, it'll be night forever? And not only that but, she'll release her children too won't she? And then what'll happen? Once she completely snuffs out day, she'll come after us, the gods, the demigods, the entire world."

"No she won't." Calypso argued bravely. "Let's see it's…. December 7 right?" Everyone nodded yes.

"Well we still have two weeks to find her and stop her. Day's not completely lost hope. The winter solstice is on December 21, the shortest day of the year, which means, it's the longest night of the year." Everyone exchanges glances of worry. "It's when she's most powerful, and Day's the weakest." Calypso finished.

"That's my sunshine." Leo grinned sheepishly.

"The voice in my dreams…" Jason started slowly, "it was Day, I think."

"Jason, Frank and I have been having the same dreams as Jason. I'm pretty sure it was Day too." Hazel said.

"And she kept telling us about how we'll be joined by others. Bad or good I don't know." said Frank.

"And… something about Annabeth I think." Hazel added while looking at me.

"Me?" I asked bewildered. What did I have to do with Day?

"Yea," Jason agreed. He hesitated, then faced me a worried look. "The wisdom's daughter holds the key to the defeat of eternal darkness."

My breath caught in my throat. What does she mean? Why me?

"And I think we know what the eternal darkness is now. It's Night. So Annabeth, she knows how to defeat Nyx?" he gave me a questioning look.

"Um," I stuttered. "I- I don't"

"She doesn't need to be pressured like that. None of us do. I'm sure Annabeth will be ready when the time comes." Percy defended me. I gave him a grateful smile and he winked at me.

"Hey cupcakes, I know this is your war strategy time and everything, but I think breakfast was over a long, time ago." Coach Hedge pointed out grumpily.

"He's right!" Leo said cheerfully, as if we hadn't just discussed the fate of the universe. "We are going to make an _extremely_ quick stop at somewhere completely random." Everyone exchanged glances and rolled their eyes. Leave it to Leo to make us laugh when talking about the possible doom of the world.

It was 12:00 now, and we had went back to our cabins to _properly_ freshen up. Most us had just sleepily brushed our teeth and wore our clothes backwards before we walked down to breakfast after Leo's, 'wake-up alarm'.

Now, all of us were above deck when Leo landed the ship. He descended through the clouds, and I began to see the landscape. I gasped.

Leo landed, and not very discreetly, in the middle of a field. Full of, wait for it, snow.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he started, "Welcome to-"

"Leo! You brought us to Antarctica?!" Calypso practically screamed at him. But then again, we were in the middle of nowhere. Who would hear her but us?

"Chill sunshine." Leo told her nervously. "It's Iceland."

"Does it make a difference?" Frank grumbled.

"Okay guys." Leo said cheerfully. "Let's see if we can find us a retail store!"

 **So what do you think? Ok, I know it's short. Please review! Oh and expect another super short chapter by tomorrow! I think! Bye :P**


	9. With Math Class Always Comes Bad Luck

**Hey, look at that! I managed to publish the story today! Although I know its extremely late, it's Thursday and I made my promised deadline :P**

 **Illiana**

I walked over to the lunch tables for break, dragging Jace along with me. He seemed to be pulling in the opposite direction just to make it harder for me, and I finally turned back to him.

"If you don't stop right now I will leave you here and not talk to you for the rest of the day." I threatened.

He gave me a sly smile. "Well, that's ok. I have other friends now."

I faked a look of hurt. "Fine." And I walked off to my friends.

"Hey wait," Jace called after me. "I was joking!"

"I know," I told him simply when he caught up with me.

"You're horrible."

"And you're a jerk."

"Well you're insufferable."

"But you're just… you."

I smiled at him, as he turned his back to me and crossed his arms. I laughed at him and told him to follow me as I walked off. He grumbled to himself and stalked after me.

I led him to the line to get a snack. Break was like short for 'breakfast' in my opinion, since most people didn't have breakfast so they just got snack at this time. It was actually just a 'break' between classes, to eat before lunch.

I got a muffin. And Jace, I should have guessed, got a cupcake, a cookie, and a bag of chips. No wait, two bags of chips. I rolled my eyes at him when he showed me his food and eyed each one hungrily.

"Umm," I said, noticing Lacie and Lexie's narrowed eyes from a few tables away, "I don't think you want to sit with my friends right now."

He sighed and nodded, then suddenly lit up. "Hey! I'll sit with the friends I made at PE."

"You sure?" I asked, not wanting him to leave.

"Yea, see you next period? Which is…."

"Choir actually. I still can't believe that's your elective. You don't seem… the singing type."

"I'm not. But I have the same schedule as you so, yippee!" he said dully. He didn't seem too excited. Maybe I should switch electives for him.

"Anyways, meet me after break so I can walk you there." He nodded and waved goodbye as I walked over to my friends.

I winced as I noticed Lacie's icy stare and Lexie's cold eyes that watched my every move. What's gotten into them?

"Hey Ily." Cali sang, breaking the silence. That girl was like a ray of sunshine, she could always brighten everyone's mood.

Even Lacie managed a smile, but Lexie still seemed very interested in keeping her eyes on me, like I could disappear id she looked away for a second. It seriously gave me the creeps. Something was going on with those two.

We talked about nothing in particular for the next 20 minutes, until the bell rang. Jace walked over to me beaming, and I wondered what he talked about with his friends that must have made him so happy. Well, I was about to burst his bubble.

"Off to choir sir!" I said quite loudly. He chuckled.

"What torture shall we endure during this horrid session of learning _,"_ he said in fake-disgust.

"Please, save me from the fire-breathing teacher my knight in shining armor," I replied sarcastically, resting the back of my hand on my forehead, as if I was a damsel in distress.

"Of course, my princess. We shall conquer the disaster known as choir!" He sprinted off into the crowd of students, then found his way back to me after he realized he didn't know where choir was.

I snickered at him and motioned for him to follow as I strolled to class.

In choir instead of tables and chairs, we had risers. So we had to stand, like _all_ the time. It was super tiring.

When I walked in I set my backpack down in a corner and stood in my spot on the risers. I told Jace to go up to the teacher and tell her that he was new, and Ms. Livingston just told him to go stand somewhere.

He walked up to me and I almost whacked him. "Not here dummy, in the boy's section!" I whispered and pointed at the group of boys standing in the center of the risers.

"Oh," he said stupidly. I felt bad for him so I tapped his shoulder and gave him a quick smile before he went to his spot.

Today we just practiced a song we had started learning yesterday and started learning the words to it. Jace didn't seem to hate it too much, but after class, he broke down and whined about how boring and horrible and stupid it was.

So I promised him we could both switch electives tomorrow and he almost jumped with excitement, hugging me. I blushed and patted his back awkwardly.

"So we can switch to computer tech," I told him as we walked to science. "Your friends are in computer tech during that period, and so is Cali and Adrianna," he smiled excitedly, "and Lacie and Lexie." His face drooped and I sighed, pitting him.

"They hate me, I swear. When we were in the snack line together they were snarling at me and narrowing their eyes." I thought about that. It doesn't sound like them but for some reason, they've been acting strange since this morning. They seemed… evil.

"Don't worry. We'll avoid them. They're not usually like this…." I mumbled the last part mostly to myself.

"Here's science," I told Jace as we reached a classroom.

"Ladies first, Princess." he volunteered, smirking at me and stepping back so I could walk in.

"What a gentleman. Will you rub my feet and feed me peeled grapes too?" I asked him sounding serious. He raised his eyebrows at me and I flipped my hair in his face and walked into the classroom.

He sat down next to me as the teacher wrote down something on the board.

"Well you're nice," Jace whispered sarcastically, and I smiled at him evilly.

"She's nice to no one. Don't take it personally." a voice said. I looked up to see Jett, who jumped out of his chair and bro-hugged Jace. I never got that. Why can't they just normal-hug? They didn't have to invent a new type of hug just so boys could look cool. I rolled my eyes at them, then looked at Jace.

"Oh yea, Jett, Mark, and Adrianna are in this class too," I told him as Mark patted him on the back.

I smiled and just took him in. He was so… handsome? It seems like an overused word, but I guess it fits him perfectly. His icy blue eyes were twinkling and looked pretty happy. He had the cutest freckles across his cheeks and nose, and his smile was mischievous. It made him 10 times more attractive, which I'm sure wasn't good for my health. Why was he so good-looking? And his absolutely perfect personality didn't help much. He never called me Ily, he always said Illiana. The way he said my name was absolutely beautiful. I watched him as he joked with Mark and Jett, and how his laugh sounded like everything amazing in the world smooshed into one sound.

Adrianna coughed, not so subtly, and everyone looked her, including me. She sent me a silent message like, _You're welcome_ , an I smiled weakly at her.

After science, I literally had to drag Jace to math. He sounded like he hated it almost more than I did, and it didn't help his mood when I told him that none of our friends were in this class.

"Trust me. It's not that bad." I was totally lying.

We took out our notebooks, and I gave Jace a piece of paper since he didn't have a notebook. The teacher started his lesson on whatever it was he was teaching.

My ADHD seriously showed during math, since it was probably the most boring thing in the universe. And the teacher wrote so small. Sitting at the back of the class didn't help much, and hello? DYSLEXIA! Could the teacher be more ignorant? He'd already gotten multiple notes from my doctor about it, but he didn't seem to care. I groaned.

"What the heck is a polynomial?" I heard Jace ask me.

"I have no idea," I said.

I was kicking my feet back and forth, when I heard I faint snoring. I turned to my right, to see Jace's head down on his desk and his eyes closed. He looked so peaceful and handsome, I couldn't help but stare at his face.

He suddenly stirred and opened his eyes. He smiled once he realized I was looking at him, and I quickly looked away, blushing. This was going to be a long class...

 _Finally_. It was over.

"What the heck are they doing to our brains! That shouldn't be legal." I whined.

"Mhm." Jace yawned.

"Why can't they just teach us about addition and subtraction and multiplication tables. Why can't they just give us tests which have the answers on the back in case we need help? Why can't-"

"Sure Princess." Jace stopped me. "And while they're at it, why don't they just spoon-feed you your lunch too." I crossed my arms and he smirked.

Then something flashed at the corner of my eye. We were still standing outside the classroom, but no one was around; everyone had gone to lunch.

"I think I saw someone," I whispered to Jace. He looked at me, then all around us.

"Who?" he asked curiously, his eyes were still searching for someone.

"I- I don't know." I stammered slightly, when I saw some other movement towards behind the classroom. Jace noticed it too.

"Whoever it is," he said carefully, "Doesn't want us to see them." He was right. I started walking towards the corner, when the figure made a dash for where the bathrooms were and disappeared behind the wall that led to the entrances.

"Let's go." Jace grabbed my hand and swiftly walked me over towards the bathrooms.

When we reached the wall, he took a deep breath and led me around the corner to the little space near the entrances of the bathrooms. And then I gasped.

There were Lacie and Lexie, staring us down with their cold glares. Something wasn't right.

"Um, Lace, Lex?" I asked nervously. They looked dangerous, evil almost. "What- what are you doing here?"

They hissed, and a there was a slight blue glow radiating from them. This was super creepy. What was happening to them? This wasn't real. It was a dream. It had to be!

I realized Jace was still gripping my hand, and I squeezed his back. I looked up at him fearfully, and his eyes said, _Don't worry, we'll be alright._

" _Look who it is_." Lacie hissed in a voice that wasn't hers. _What!?_

" _The_ _demigods_ _stare_ _at_ _us with such fear. You are not prepared for what is to come young heroes."_ Lexie said, with an equal scary quality to her twin's.

" _We would have taken your bodies by now, but we have strict orders to deliver you safely._ "

" _From the queen of the gods themselves. If you weren't so special…."_

" _We are so hungry for life. Us eidolons, we never get a chance to live again."_

" _And we are not eager to let it go to waste…"_

Lexie stalked towards me, reaching out, but Jace jumped in front of me.

"Don't touch her," he growled at them.

" _So much energy…_ " Lacie lifted her hand to touch his arm, but then a flash, a spark of lightning, crackled between her fingers and Jace's arm.

She cursed, but not in our language. And somehow, I understood it.

" _You are lucky the master wants you alive. The king of the gods won't give a drachma's worth if we stole your life. But you are special. He needs you."_ Lacie and Lexie backed up from us, then collapsed.

"Lacie, Lexie!" I ran towards them. _That's_ why they were acting so weird today. Those _things,_ whatever they were, were controlling them.

I was a few feet away from them, when Jace yelled.

"Illiana! Don't move!" I froze and looked around. The ground was crumbling around me, and Jace ran over to me and held tight onto my arm.

"Jace what's happening?" I asked in a panicky voice.

"I- I don't know."

Then, everything disappeared. Like, _everything._ It was white. And then we were in the sky. Falling.

I felt a crazy rush in my stomach as I fell through the air.

The last thing I remember was Jason hugging onto my waist, tight.

"I got you Princess," he whispered into my ear. "I'll keep you safe."

And then I blacked out.

 **So? I'm hoping I'll finish the next chapter by tomorrow, if not Saturday. Cause YAY! It's the weekend, expect maybe two or three chapters by Sunday :D I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far, please review, BYE :)**


	10. We Play Tag With Deadly Seals

****So yay! I finished the chapter, and I'm so sorry I didn't publish it earlier. I actually finished the chapter this morning but I was out all day and didn't get a chance to edit and publish it. Plez forgive me and enjoy!****

 **Piper**

So turns out Leo wasn't kidding when he said we're going to find a retail store.

"And maybe a grocery store too," he added. "And probably a pharmacy."

"While you're at it why don't we find a five-star hotel complete with a restaurant, buffet, pool, and casino!" I grumbled sarcastically. How were we supposed to find _anything_ in this place? All I could see for miles was snow. Just snow.

"Mhm. That would be nice." Leo said, completely serious. I gaped at him. He can't seriously think we'll _find_ something under all this ice and snow.

"Aha!" Leo pointed downhill and my jaw dropped.

So maybe there was a tiny speck of civilization amidst all this white.

Calypso almost screamed in joy and ran down the hill, Leo close behind. They weren't the only ones. I took Jason's hand and sped downhill towards the building waiting for us at the bottom. Who knew there would _actually_ be a hotel here?

I was freezing and snow coated every speck of skin that I hadn't covered up. My face, arms, hands, and legs were numb and didn't even have feeling anymore, and I think all my teeth were chipped off because of how violently they were chattering.

I burst into the lobby of the hotel and sat down on a warm looking sofa. Jason cuddled up next to me and I immediately felt warmer. Percy and Annabeth were huddled up on the floor together and Leo had put himself on fire to light the fireplace. Calypso looked absolutely freezing and was sitting extremely close to the fireplace with Leo. Hazel and Frank were sitting across from us on the other sofa.

"Um, guys?" I asked suspiciously. "I don't think there's anyone here."

They all tensed up in realization and looked around nervously.

"Piper and I'll check it out." Jason volunteered. I nodded and got up slowly. "You guys stay here and call out if something happens."

They all nodded and went back to being cold, as me and Jason wandered into the dark halls.

We found some stairs, and carefully stepped up the slightly creaking steps. On the second floor was a small restaurant, and then a cafe. Both looked pretty dirty but had a strong smell of something I couldn't quite place. They'd been recently used. _Weird_ , I thought.

Jason and I found another set of stairs leading to the third floor. There were rooms on this floor, but most of them were locked, and I could've sworn I heard faint sounds of scraping metal coming from inside. Jason didn't say anything though, so I assumed it was just my imagination.

The few rooms that weren't locked however, had an unpleasant musky odor like the restaurants on the floor below. The sheets were ruffled and a light was on, which made me slightly suspicious. Something didn't seem right.

Just then behind a curtain, I saw a flash. The glare from the bright sun outside a window reflected off a pair of sharp, pointy teeth.

I grabbed my dagger and gripped Jason's arm to warn him but it was too late. We were surrounded by dog / seal-like creatures that were sneering at us delightfully. That's why everything looking recently used and smelled of animals. _They_ were living here.

I recalled the name of the monstrous creatures from one of Percy and Annabeth's Labyrinth stories.

 _Telkhines._

Jason gripped his Gladius and stabbed one in front of him, as if to say he wasn't playing around.

"Look what we have here." one telkhine spoke in a voice that was like a half growl. "Two of the infamous seven who defeated the earth mother herself. She was kind to us you see, and we would be pleased to avenge her." The other telkhines snarled and licked their lips as if they were wondering the best way to serve demigod.

"I wonder where your friends are. Seven of the most powerful demigods of the century will surely please the master," he said with an evil smile. His sharp fangs and chilling grin made him seem like some psychotic murderer. Not attractive.

Wait. _Master?_ Were they working for someone?

The telkhine who spoke to us was circling us tauntingly, as if thinking, _these were the people who destroyed Gaea? They look like breakfast to me._

"So," he began suddenly, startling me. Jason and I were back-to-back now, ready for an attack.

"Which one shall we kill first?" the telkhine asked.

I smirked at them, trying to hide my fear that we were outnumbered like 10-2.

"Do your worst," I said. Wrong answer.

They lunged at me all at once, luckily, causing them to trip over themselves and end up in a heap on the floor. A few of the smarter ones pounced now, and I slashed through them easily.

They must have been just kids or something, because there was a group of older and wiser looking telkhines cornering Jason, who was struggling to stab at them.

I snuck up from behind, successfully killing one of them, but not before another noticed me and bit my arm. Well, not bit. I mean they tried and barely grazed my arm before I swung it out of reach, but it still stang.

I gasped at clutched at my arm, and Jason used the distraction to get rid of the telkhines. He made a clean cut straight through three of their heads, and they immediately flopped to the ground and disintegrated.

The younger ones had disentangled themselves from the pile on the floor and were awkwardly stumbling towards us. I glanced at the marks on my arm and winced, then lifted my dagger and slashed through two of them in front of me.

Jason stabbed two more like a skewer, and they disappeared with a yelp.

I immediately stood on guard again and pointed my dagger, before realizing there were no more and turned to Jason. He was checking behind the curtains again, cause you can never be too sure, and turned back to me with an easy grin.

"Well done Pipes!" he walked over and squeezed my arm. I let out a squeal and snatched my arm out of his grasp, breathing hard. He looked worried, and carefully removed my hand from my arm to see what had caused my distress.

His eyes widened, and he scrounged around in his back pocket for something.

"They got you bad Piper," he mumbled softly, as he found a piece of ambrosia and handed it to me. I immediately swallowed it, smiling weakly at the pleasance of its taste. The pain subsided but the deep gash on my arm remained, although the bleeding had stopped.

With some effort, Jason ripped off a small piece from the bottom of his pants and tenderly wrapped the cloth around my wound and tied a loose knot.

"Come on," I said. "Let's go warn the others."

"You're right." he agreed. "But I have a feeling they've already found out."

He was right, because when we found the lobby again it was a complete mess and everyone was panting or sweating.

Hazel finally noticed us, and nudged the others who gave us weak smiles.

"There, were so many..." Percy gasped.

"Couldn't handle it, Jackson?" Jason said with a small smile.

"Naw man," Percy responded smugly. "Took on about twenty myself."

"There must have been a hundred of them," Frank said, panting. "They all came pouring down from the stairs about ten minutes after you left."

I glanced at Jason, and he nodded. The telkhines must have sent word to their friends once they caught sight of us upstairs.

"They let it slip about working for someone. Their master or something." I added.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "It's Keto. Mother of all sea monsters. She appeared right before the telkhines attacked and made a little speech about all her _loving_ feelings towards those two," she pointed at Frank at Percy accusingly, "and gave the command to attack. Then she just disappeared." she finished with a frown.

I chuckled lightly, then realized something.

"Hey, where's Leo and Calypso?"

"Oh yea, they figured they'd go out and look for the supplies Leo wanted, while you two explored." said Hazel.

"Wanna go look for them?" Jason asked.

"Well I have no interest in staying here," I replied. "You guys know where they went?"

"Um, Leo did say something about automobile repair shop?" Percy said with uncertainty. "He was rambling on and on about car parts and ship mechanics and stuff and-"

"Yes, they went to an auto shop," Annabeth said for him, and Percy looped his arms around Annabeth's.

"So?" he asked. "Let's go!"

All of us exited the hotel and I looked back and laughed out loud.

Hazel had gotten stuck in the revolving doors, and was so amazed and confused by the workings of it that she kept going round in circles.

Frank was trying to help usher her out, but Hazel kept thinking she was not going to make it and get caught in the door.

Finally Frank just pushed her out when their side was open, and apologized once they were safely on the other side. Hazel just kept staring at the revolving doors in wonder.

Just then Leo came running out of nowhere with Calypso close behind. His arms were full of stuffed bags, and his tool belt was overflowing. Calypso was gripping a sharp piece of metal that was covered in monster dust. She kept looking behind her nervously.

"Hey guys, guess what! There are telkhines here!" he said panting.

We gave him a look, glanced down at our messed up and sweating selves, then up at him again raising our eyebrows.

"Oh. I see you've already met them," he said, surprisingly still smiling.

"Well there's a herd of them coming now, so I suggest you guys help me with these bags and start running. Every demigod for themselves!"

Each of us grabbed a bag full of metal junk and car parts from Leo's hands and started sprinting up the snow-covered hill. Hazel and Annabeth took out their weapons and ran behind the group in case the telkhines caught up with us.

We ran as fast as we could with our arms full, over mountains of ice and snow. At one point Frank fell into a pit and a bunch of snow fell over and buried him. It took him five minutes to finally crawl out in the form of a monkey (don't ask me why). After Hazel scolded him for not being careful of snowy pits, we started running again towards the ship.

Within five minutes we caught sight of the _Argo II_. My legs were about ready to collapse and I was hot and sweating like crazy, but the freezing air and the ice and snow helped. My arms felt like lead and I was wondering when Leo had all the time to get this many parts, but I suddenly heard a chorus of deep growls. I froze in my tracks and turned around.

Four of the largest telkhines I've seen in my life, almost twice the size of us, towered over Hazel and Annabeth. Percy had dropped his bag and was running to help Annabeth with one of them, while Frank was scrounging through his bag and throwing sharp pieces of metal at the telkhines.

"Careful buddy," Leo shouted to Frank, "Some of those parts are really valuable!"

Frank turned back to him with his eyebrows raised. "Would you rather I sat here and watched my friends get slaughtered?"

Leo actually thought about it, and his eyes widened in excitement. He dropped his bag and found a long, sharp metal rod, and charged a telkhine.

"FOR FESTUS!" he yelled for no apparent reason, and slashed clean through an extremely bewildered and 10-foot tall telkhine.

He looked back at Calypso grinning crazily, and she rolled her eyes at him. He interpreted it differently than she must have meant, because he immediately said,

"FOR CALYPSO!" and tried to again slash through a telkhine a few feet away. The monster was expecting this, and although a little shocked he sidestepped, while Leo fumbled around for a second before falling flat in the snow.

"Oh my gods, Leo!" Calypso yelled and ran to him, half-laughing.

He got up slowly, frowning. "Did I get him?"

Calypso almost burst into tears of laughter and tried to hide her smile as she told him he missed, but only by an inch. Then I realized a telkhine was sneaking up on the two, and immediately stepped into action.

"Stop." I commanded. Even though it was aimed at the telkhines, my powerful charmspeak caused all the other demigods to freeze in place too. Then I picked up Leo's metal rod and walked up calmly to the telkhine, which was still unable to move, and stabbed it in the guts.

Then the charmspeak wore off, and the only telkhine left took one look at the eight kids armed with swords and sharp metal, and scampered off whimpering like a wounded animal. I almost laughed at the sight.

After we recovered from the suddenness of it, we started walking to our flying ship. I don't think any of us had the strength to run anymore, and I was pretty sure the telkhines wouldn't be coming back. I was _so_ done with Iceland.

By the time we reached the _Argo II_ , I was leaning so heavily on Jason I thought he might collapse. But I couldn't help it. My legs were burning and my head was aching and I just felt like falling asleep on his shoulder while still walking.

I would have done it too but when I saw the ship only about 50 feet ahead, I practically ran to it, thinking the whole way about how I could just flop down on my bed and lie there forever.

I reached the ship and slammed straight into a startled Coach Hedge. I fell on my bum above deck and winced.

The rest of the crew climbed onto the deck and Coach Hedge, noticing our swords out and clothes ripped up, looked like he wanted to punch something. "Aww I knew it, I always miss all the fun!" he yelled with a groan and walked below deck like a wilted flower.

"I feel bad for the guy, cause i know he loves fighting," Percy said, "But I wouldn't call it fun."

We all sighed and collapsed in agreement. It was maybe, 12:45 now? I felt like just going to my cabin and passing out for the rest of the day. I didn't have much energy left in me to even talk. But apparently, Leo did.

"Guys!" he shouted suddenly. We all looked up to him.

"What?" Jason asked, mid-yawn.

"Do- do you see that?" he pointed up at the sky.

Annabeth squinted up and her eyes widened. "It's…" she squinted again, "Is it falling?"

"I think she's right." I said, immediately getting up. I felt like all my energy was back. "Something's falling towards us. Right to our ship!"

Everyone stood on guard, as the object in the sky came closer and closer, and then I realized something.

"It's not going to hit our ship," Hazel said, reading my mind. "It's going to fall into the ocean!"

"Percy do something!" Calypso yelled.

"I- wait," he stopped, suddenly startled. "Are those...people?"

 _SPLASH!_ Two people sunk straight into the water, and I grimaced. Percy could still save them, right?

"Oh no!" Frank yelled.

"Wait," said Percy with determination in his voice, "I'll-"

We all froze, and looked at the spot in the ocean where the people and fallen. I gasped. Out of the sea, rose two kids who couldn't have been older than Hazel. A wave picked them up and swiftly carried them over to the boat. They landed softly in the middle of the deck.

"Um, Percy? Did you do that?" Annabeth asked anxiously.

"Wasn't me," he said slowly.

"Then, how?" I asked.

The two looked maybe thirteen or fourteen, and were out cold. The boy had his arm wrapped protectively around the girl's waist, and the girl was huddled up close to his chest.

"Well they fell from Jupiter's, or Zeus's," he added quickly, "territory. Which means, maybe he sent them?"

"Mhm. And they're probably siblings." Frank guessed.

"Maybe…" I said uncertainly.

"Nah man, they're clearly in love. Look at them! I just hope they don't wake up and start making out or something." Leo said with a smirk.

Percy looked at them longingly. "I don't know why, but they remind me of us." he told Annabeth, smiling.

Annabeth smiled back at him and took his hand. "You're right. They can't be older than thirteen."

I frowned, still skeptical. "All I want to know is, how did they survive that fall into the ocean?"

 **SO? Please guys, I haven't been getting reviews and I really can't tell if you guys like the story or not. It's super confusing. Anyways, I'll definitely start writing a LOT more chapters this week cause... IT'S CHRISTMAS BREAK! But I don't want to spend every second of my free time writing, so maybe just one chapter a day. Aaaand review! :P**


	11. Let Them Eat Pizza! Actually, Nevermind

****So I published another sorta long one, and YAY Everything interesting finally starts! ENJOY :D****

 **Jace**

Ever wake up in a strange place and not know where you were, then suddenly have all your memories rush back and you remember everything? Well that's exactly what did _not_ happen to me.

I opened my eyes slowly, which were blurry with sleep, and took in my strange surroundings. I'm in a bed, I realized. And then all my memories came flooding back to me.

Illiana and I had been swallowed up by the ground, then suddenly we were falling in the sky. That's all. I don't remember anything after that or where I landed, and I definitely don't remember walking to or getting into this bed. I could have landed near some people, who had put me in a bedroom. The second option I was thinking about is I'd fallen straight into the bed and magically tucked myself in. Considering there was a roof over me, _and_ that it was just plain impossible, I discarded that idea.

Who was taking care of me? No. Who was taking care of _us_. I suddenly remembered Illiana and turned around quickly, discovering her sleeping soundly right next to me in the bed. I felt my face turn hot and wondered what to do. She'd probably punch me if she woke up and I was sleeping next to her.

I slowly slipped out of the soft bed, careful not to wake her. I took in her features. Her eyelashes were resting gently against her cheeks but her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, as if she was dreaming.

I leaned over her, and without hesitation, pressed a kiss to her forehead. I couldn't help it, she was beautiful. It's like when you see a baby. Imagine the cutest and most adorable baby in the world, sleeping. Irresistible.

I turned around and eyed the door, not knowing what to do next. Then suddenly I heard a yawn.

"Jace?" Illiana mumbled sleepily.

I immediately sat on the bed again, leaning down over her. My face was traumatizingly close to hers. "Yea Princess?"

She yawned again, her eyes half-closed. "Where- where are we?"

I looked around skeptically. "I don't know."

"How come I'm in this bed? How'd we get here? How'd you find me?" she fired one question after the other, very curious.

"The first two questions, I'm as equally confused. As to the third, I woke up here too." I told her, then realizing my huge mistake my eyes widened and I looked at her nervously.

"Woke up here?" she asked, confused. "But I don't see another-"

She stopped short, and her cheeks colored red. "Jace? Were you sleeping in the same bed as me?"

I jumped out of the bed."I swear, I didn't do anything!" Then I realized I was lying, because I had kissed her forehead. But that wasn't really anything, was it?

She sighed and smiled up at me. "I trust you Jace."

We stood in a comfortable silence for a minute, before I realized she had gone back to sleep. I wondered what time it was? Maybe I should sleep too.

I realized that there was still only one bed, but I was really tired. I hesitated before crawling into the bed next to her, and I just stared up at the ceiling. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Illiana shivering, and I hugged her gently. She smiled in her sleep and cuddled closer to me, and then I fell asleep too.

I woke up again, but not knowing the time I couldn't tell how long I'd slept for. I looked at Illiana, still sleeping in my arms, and decided to wake her up.

"Illiana," I whispered into her ear.

She groaned. "Five more minutes please," she said softly.

"Hey Princess," I told her, "It's me, Jace. Come on get up."

"No." she responded with a frown, her eyes still closed.

I sat up on the bed and analyzed the situation. Then, I got an idea.

I put my fingers over her stomach, and started to tickle her. Her eyes sprang open and she broke into a fit of laughter and screams.

"Jace, Jace!" she yelled between tears, "Please stop I'll- what do you want?"

"I have no mercy," I said evilly to her, and avoided her flying fists.

She finally managed to grab my hands and twist them, so that I couldn't move them anymore. She glared at me, and I grinned back.

"You're such an Arrowhead," she muttered, and then she climbed out of bed.

I smiled and followed her example climbing out with her, and started to walk towards the door. I looked back, to see Illiana looking at some pictures on the wall.

"Look at all these kids," she nodded her head towards them. I glanced at the multiple photos on the wall. They were the same eight kids over and over again. There was a boy with green eyes, a blonde girl, a scrawny black-haired boy, a Chinese guy, a dark-skinned girl that looked the youngest, a girl with choppy brown hair, a blonde-haired boy and a girl with caramel-colored hair. Were those the people who had brought us here? And, how come they were just kids?

I took Illiana's hand and walked her over to the door. "Come on Princess," I whispered, "Let's find a way outa here."

I opened the door to a hallway full of more doors. Then at the end of the long corridor, I saw stairs leading up.

I practically dragged Illiana over to them, but she was so curious about everything. She wanted to open every single door and peek into every single room we passed. It took about three minutes to finally reach the stairs that were only about 50 yards away.

We walked up the stairs, and I heard Illiana gasp next to me. We were on the deck, of a _boat._

I suddenly noticed the eight other people also on the boat, staring at us with intense curiosity. Illiana gripped my hand and I squeezed back. Who were these kids?

Then they all broke into grins and smiles, and one of them spoke. "Welcome to the _Argo II,_ the most excellent and prestigious ship of the century, crafted by yours truly." said the scrawny looking one. He bowed, and walked over to the hull.

"And meet our head dragon," he said with a smirk. I was confused for a second, and then...and then….. the dragon _turned_ around at blew _fire_ at us, making a face that looked like he was grinning.

I just stared, my jaw dropped, and Illiana looked ahead blankly. "What in the world is going on..." she whispered.

"Um, excuse me?" I asked nervously.

"Mhm?" the same boy replied.

"Uh, where are we?"

"You have entered a parallel universe in which dragons rule and all humans are slaves." he grinned evilly. "We are all flesh-eating dragons in disguise, and you shall now serve us!"

The caramel-haired girl walked up to him and smacked his arm. "Leo! Be nice!"

Leo winced at her and smiled weakly. "Easy sunshine, just a joke."

She rolled her eyes and he wiggled his eyebrows at her, making her laugh a bit. Then the green-haired boy walked up to us smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry," he told us. "Leo was just joking about the parallel universe and humans being slaves. Us flesh-eating dragons are friendly."

The blonde girl groaned. "Percy shut-up! We're supposed to be taking care of them, not scaring them to death."

"But the dragons are real though." the blonde boy glanced at the choppy brown-haired girl's glare and said defensively, "What? It wasn't a lie."

She sighed. "Boys are so stupid…" she muttered.

"Not me though, right?" the Chinese boy said.

The young girl who looked about our age walked up to him and kissed his cheek. "Well sometimes," she told him, grinning, and he frowned.

"Well girls are…" The boy name Percy started.

"You wanna finish that sentence Seaweed Brain?" The blonde-haired girl raised her eyebrows at him and he gulped.

"Girls are beautiful." he finished, but she still looked miffed.

"I mean only you! Only you, are beautiful." he corrected, and she gave him an approving look.

"Aw come on!" he whined. "I don't even get a kiss?"

She punched his shoulder lightly. "Fine," she said. She took his hand and kissed the back of it.

"That not what I meant Annabeth!" But she just shrugged, while trying to hide a smile.

"Piper's beautiful too." The blonde boy hugged the girl named Piper, but she raised her eyebrows.

"Jason are you sniffing my hair?" she asked.

He stopped, embarrassed. "What?" he asked defensively. "You smell like coconut." he huffed and crossed his arms, and Piper ruffled his hair.

I just kept staring at them, and they'd seemed like they'd forgotten we were here. But then the Chinese boy turned towards us.

"Do you two know how you got here?" he asked.

The rest of them looked at us too.

We shook our heads, but then I remembered something from right before we started falling.

"There were…. eidolons." The all tensed up when I said this, and started listening intently.

"They kept on talking about how they wanted to live again, how they would use us or something…." Illiana shivered beside me and I put my arm around her. She held onto my hand over her shoulder.

"How did you get away?" The girl named Annabeth asked.

"We didn't. They tried to touch us, but something was stopping them. Then they started talking about the king and queen of the gods and how they had orders to deliver us somewhere…"

The caramel-haired girl took a step forward, and the rest of the group nodded in relief and understanding. I was still confused though.

"But what happened after?" she asked.

"The ground," Illiana responded before I could speak. "It started to disappear, like it was crumbling beneath us. And next thing we knew we were just falling, in the sky."

"Don't worry," Piper told us. "You were meant to be here."

Then Jason's eyes widened. "Day, in my dreams, she told me something. _You will be joined by others_. That's what she said."

"Frank and I were having the same dreams." the younger girl said seriously.

"So they must be who Day was talking about!" Frank said excitedly.

"But there's still one thing…" Percy said. "Who saved them from that fall in the water?"

Illiana looked up at me fearfully, but I smiled reassuringly at her.

"Fall in the water?" I asked. "Like in the ocean?"

"Yea, but something saved you." said the caramel-haired girl. "You rose out of the water on a wave and landed on the boat."

I gaped at them. _What?_

"Until we figure that out, would you guys like something to eat?" asked the younger girl.

As if on cue, my stomach grumbled so loudly it could have been mistaken for a stampede of elephants. Illiana heard it too and snickered at me. I gave her a look and nudged her in the shoulder, but she just laughed more.

Piper was smiling at us. "What time is it?" I asked. It must have been 9 or 10 PM, because it was pretty dark outside.

"4:30. You guys have been sleeping for four hours," said Frank.

 _What?_ That can't be right. It would have to be way brighter if it was 4:30.

"Why- why is it so dark?" Illiana questioned, as if reading my mind.

They all looked around sadly at the sky, and sighed. "We'll explain it later. And since you'll be staying with us for the rest of our quest, you'll be sleeping in a cabin too…." Percy trailed off.

"We only have one extra cabin though, since we weren't really expecting visitors," Leo told us. "You're welcome to sleep with your girlfriend if you want."

I felt my cheeks grow hot, and noticed my arm was still around Illiana. I quickly took it off and saw Illiana's red face out of the corner of my eyes.

"I'm not his…. girlfriend," she said with an embarrassed laugh. "We're just friends. That's all."

"Mhm." Percy raised his eyebrows at me, and I felt myself blush again.

"Oh leave them alone Percy," Annabeth said to him. But I could tell no one believed us. Illiana didn't like me anyway, right?

"Anyways," Leo began, "Calypso'll take you guys to the mess hall." Calypso, the caramel-haired girl, nodded and walked over to us smiling.

"Everyone else, emergency meeting over there!"

Calypso led us down a different set of stairs that led into a magnificent dining hall with a long table into the center. But what really took my breath away, were the walls.

There were scenes playing of a someplace, on the walls like screens. There was a rock-climbing wall with _lava_ pouring out the top, and a huge bonfire surrounded by more than hundred kids of different ages. But the weirdest sight, was something that looked like a game of capture the flag. Except the kids playing were wearing spartan helmets and heavy armor, and running around with swords, daggers or spears.

Illiana wasn't looking at that though. She was staring in awe at the dining table. Two plates had just…..appeared, and were filling themselves up, but the one on the right caught my eye. It had filled itself with pizza. But a special kind. Pizza topped with pasta and lettuce.

I'd remember that food anywhere. It was the only memory of my torn up life that I'd actually treasured.

It was only three years ago. My mom had recently married a man, and they had already had a baby that had just turned one. That kid cried so much I swear its tears could have filled and overflowed the Mississippi River.

But when he saw my face, no matter what the situation, he would stop. He would stop crying and smile at the sight of my face. As l long as I was there in the same room as him, that baby would be happy.

We were in Italy, for my mom's and new step-dad's honeymoon. All my life I'd been living alone with my mom and now I could be happy, I could have a family.

So far the vacation was going great. I was about 10 at the time, and we were walking down the street with my mom on one side and my step-dad on the other, with baby Apollo (my mom has a thing for naming her kids after Greek gods) in my arms.

We found an Italian pizza place on the side of the street and walked inside. We were all in a good mood and felt a little crazy, so we ordered pasta-topped pizza. Even little Apollo was trying to eat it, but no avail because of course, he had no teeth.

Despite the weirdness of it, it was the best meal I'd had in my life because it was with a family. That day, in the evening, we were standing outside a small cafe, waiting for my step-dad and Apollo, who were in the bathroom because he needed his diaper changed. It was pitch black, and the usually crowded streets of Venice were empty at night.

It all happened so suddenly I'm not even sure I saw it right. A huge black dog just appeared out of nowhere. I'm not sure if it was a dog at all, because it was the size of a truck. I froze at the sight of its hungry eyes and its monstrous fangs.

My mom grabbed something from her purse that looked like a dagger, and tried to swing at it. The humungous dog dodged it just barely, but still earned a wide cut in its side.

It growled menacingly and grabbed my mom and threw her against the wall like a rag doll. I gasped, still unable to move, and my eyes widened. My moms head was bleeding and her face had paled. The huge dog walked over to my mom and clawed at her stomach. That's when my courage returned. I remember not really thinking about anything, just that my mom was dying because, of this _monster_.

"Don't. You. Touch her!" I grabbed my mom's dagger from the floor next to her lifeless body, and ran with all my strength towards the beast.

The dog charged at me too, but right when it reached me I ducked and slid under as it ran over me. I stuck up the dagger into its belly as it was moving and cut it straight in half. I crawled out from under the big black mass and stared at it in wonder. What the heck did I just do?

Then I watched in bewilderment as the monster disappeared little by little, until there was no trace of it ever being here. Unless of course, for my mom bleeding to death in the corner against the wall. I sprinted up to her, but as I stared at my mom I knew it was too late. The black dog had probably broken her skull, her spine and her ribs, and she could never heal from all her scratches and wounds.

I cried softly as I watched the face of my beautiful mother slowly lose its color, until she was finally dead.

Just then my step-dad walked out of the cafe cheerfully with Apollo in his arms. He looked around confused, before finally seeing us leaning against a corner. He gasped and his eyes hardened as he ran over to my mom and caressed her cheek tenderly. Then he turned on me with a cold, dark look in his eyes.

"What did you do to her?" he asked quietly but in a dangerous tone. My eyes widened and I shook my head vigorously.

I stammered, unsure what to say. "I- I didn't do it! There- there was this, this thing, tha- that came and, and it just-"

"Save it," he growled. I tried to explain what had happened, but he could never believe me. From that day on he had always blamed me for what happened to my mother that night. Little did I know that the best meal of my life together with my family, was also my last. I could never have a family again.

And for the first time, Apollo looked into my eyes, and cried.

I switched back to reality and my eyes teared up as I looked at the slice of pizza on my plate. Despite the horrible memories of that day, that food could always remind me of when I had all the people who loved me, together. Even if it lasted only for a few weeks.

Illiana noticed and took my hand. "You ok Jace?" she whispered to me. I had almost forgotten she was there. I smiled when I thought about Illiana and gave her a grateful look.

"Yea Princess." then I grinned. "Let's eat!"

I was _starving._ I gobbled up my slice of pizza so fast that after two bites, I was wondering where it went. I was too hungry to even think about the fact that my plate had magically refilled itself of the delicious pizza. It refilled twice more before I finally became full, and I sighed happily.

Illiana looked back and forth between my plate and her's, which was still half full of lasagna.

"I don't know what's weirder," she wondered. "The fact that you're eating so much, or what it is your eating."

"It's pizza." I pointed out simply, and she rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Well obviously, but I've never seen those toppings on pizza before."

"Pasta and lettuce. Perfectly original." I beamed, and she sighed.

"Only you, Arrowhead. Only you…" she picked at her own lasagna with a slight frown.

"You alright?" I asked, concerned.

She sighed again, but this time not as happily. "I just...I don't feel like eating right now."

I felt bad about it, but hey! You can't let a perfectly good half-eaten lasagna go to waste, can you? "Do you mind if I have it?" I asked her, my eyes pleading.

She let out a small laugh and pushed her plate over to me. "Go for it."

I completely forgot about the fact that I was full, and literally swallowed it whole. When I glanced back at Illiana once I was done, she was staring off into the distance, struggling to keep her eyes open. I took her hand to get her attention, and she turned to me and yawned.

"Come on, Princess. Let's get you to sleep." I scooped her up, hoping she was too tired to mind, and found my way to the cabin we were sleeping in earlier. By the time I reached the door, she was already asleep.

I carefully opened the door and laid her down gently on the bed. When I tried to get up and walk away, I realized she was still gripping tightly onto my hand. I smiled on the inside and tried to pry her small fingers off without waking her up.

I stared at her sleeping face and wondered what she was dreaming about. I caressed her cheek with the back of my hand, then pressed my lips to her forehead once again. Then I quietly slipped out of the room, knowing no one would ever know how much I'd fallen for this girl.

 **Guys, please tell me in the reviews your thoughts about the story, cause I _really_ want to know. And I will again have another chapter by tomorrow. Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, catch ya later :P**


	12. We Gossip Like The Teenagers We Are

**I'm so sorry guys, I know I should have published two days ago. I've had a fever for the past three days, and looking at a screen gave me a headache. It got better today so I wrote the chapter, but please forgive me if it's a little short :P**

 **Leo**

The rest of the crew and I were sitting in the middle of the deck, on the floor. For the past twenty minutes we've been discussing our two newest arrivals.

"You think their demigods?" Percy asked.

"Well I would think so, they saw Festus." I said.

"Yeah but, we handed that vision right to them. We said there was a dragon and then the dragon looked at them. If they randomly passed by Festus without anyone altering their perception of him, they could've seen something different cause of the Mist." Percy explained.

"And they could just as easily have been clear-sighted mortals." said Hazel.

"Yeah, but think about it," Annabeth reasoned. " _Zeus_ and _Hera_ , sent them here. The gods barely care about us demigods, much less a couple of mortals."

"Demigods or not they're special in some way." Everyone turned their heads as Calypso ascended from the stairs.

"You know how Leo enchanted those plates in the mess hall?" Everyone nodded yes. "Well, they only work for people or creatures of _special_ heritage. Like Greek or Roman. And as soon as those two walked in, the plates started filling themselves up."

"So they're demigods?" I decided.

"I'm not super sure, but probably. If their not demigods, there either monsters or gods." Calypso shrugged.

"I don't think they're monsters." Jason said. " If the king and queen of the gods sent them to us, while we were in the middle of a quest to save the world, it wouldn't help them out much."

"Well I _know_ they're not gods." Frank said as-a-matter-of-factly. "If they were, they wouldn't have made such a…. _flattering_ entrance." he pointed out with a smirk.

"He's right. A god would have tried to make himself look as amazing and glamorous and possible." And did you see how awkward those two were around each other?" I hid a smile and Piper beamed.

"They're _so_ cute together! They're are totally perfect for each other." she giggled and everyone exchanged looks and rolled their eyes. "And did you see how protective that boy was of her? And the way she looked at him! Ah, it was beautiful." Piper sighed.

We gave her a look, and she stuck her tongue out at us. "What?" she asked defensively. "Even a non-child of Aphrodite could tell, they were totally in love."

"I think she's right." Annabeth suddenly spoke, with a small smile. She turned to Percy. "Don't you think they remind you of us?"

Percy thought about it, and grinned too. "Especially since they're so young." Then he frowned. "Except they don't seem to hate each other as much. And they weren't constantly insulting each other. And they didn't keep hurting each other. And they-"

Annabeth swatted at his arm. "You make us sound like we were enemies!"

Percy shrugged, with a lopsided grin. "You think we weren't?"

"I've liked you since we were twelve!"

"Oh yes. And I remember your most romantic first words."

Annabeth frowned, and Percy raised his eyebrows.

"You drool in your sleep."

And then they burst into laughter, shaking and holding onto each other while they cried because they were laughing so much. I didn't understand. How two people so different, could love each other so much. They truly were perfect for each other.

 _Oh gods no,_ I thought. I was starting to sound like Piper. I shuddered. Her lovey-dovey talk was seriously starting to rub off on me.

"So what do we do with them?" asked Hazel. The million-drachma question. What _do_ we do with them?

"Well," Jason started, "I think they're part of us now."

"Sooo we're the nine now?" Frank asked.

"No." I said. "The ten." I put my arm around Calypso's shoulders and hugged her to my side.

"Well if we're counting the people on this quest, it's technically the eleven." Percy decided. The others gave him confused looks. "Coach Hedge."

"Oh yeah!" remarked Hazel, but then her expression became worried.

"Coach Hedge hasn't been around a lot." she sighed.

"He's mostly been in his cabin. He never comes out." Calypso told us.

"He's got a family now. Coach Hedge probably misses them. He must Iris Message them a lot." Frank guessed.

Percy groaned, and we all looked at him. "Every, single, second! Every time I'm in the hall or I pass his cabin, he's Iris Messaging _someone_. It's exhausting."

Just then, we all heard a sound coming from the back of the boat. _Coach Hedge_?

We all turned our heads towards the stairs and watched as the boy, our topic of discussion, climbed up onto the deck.

He seemed pretty relaxed, that is, until he looked up and saw all of us watching him like a hawk.

"Um, hey?" he looked pretty nervous.

"Hey!" I grinned, breaking the tension. He smiled too.

"So uh, where's the girl?" I asked.

His smile softened. "She's sleeping. She was pretty tired."

"Really?" asked Percy. "She was just asleep for over 4 hours, in the middle of the _day_ , and now she's tired again?"

He shrugged. "She was like, half-asleep while we were eating."

"Then how did she get to the cabin? It's almost on the opposite side of the boat." I said.

"Uh….." his face colored.

"That's adorable." Piper whispered excitedly.

"Um, back to the reason I can up here, why exactly am I here?"

The others flashed expectant glances around, none of us wanting to explain, still unsure about this guy's origin. Then I got an idea.

"Hey uh, do you know your parents?" I asked him. If he said no, then he would understand the question. Any normal kid with both of their parents would just think I'm stupid.

He grimaced and looked away. "My- my mother died when I was ten, and I never knew my dad." I winced and felt my heart ache. He's not the only one, I thought. I've gone through the same thing…

"Did you live in a foster home?" I asked. Everyone looked at me and gave me sympathetic expressions, as if they just realized how I related to this boy.

"No." he told us simply. "My mother married my step-dad right before she died. It actually happened on their honeymoon too."

Then Jason's eyes widened, as if he had an idea. "Do you know how your mother died?" _Smart._ My mother died in a fire, and Percy's mother (sorta) died because of the Minotaur. Both experiences proved we were demigods.

"I…. You wouldn't believe me. It's not normal." he said reluctantly.

"Look kid. Do we look normal to you?" I gestured towards the living, breathing, bronze dragon resting at the head of the ship.

"It was a dog," he said suddenly. We all looked at him.

"A big, black dog, a _huge_ one. Like, the size of a truck."

 _Hellhound_ , I thought. The boy glanced at our faces, as if not sure we would take him seriously, but I nodded for him to continue.

"It- it just appeared out of nowhere! My mom and I were standing outside a cafe on a pretty much empty sidewalk, only a few people walking past. We were waiting for my step-dad and baby brother who were inside. We were all alone." I shuddered. This story was _not_ going to be pretty.

"The black dog was coming at us, slowly but surely. I was going to run, I was going to grab my mom by the arm and _run_. Now I know that would have been suicide, but that was what I tried to do." his face looked distraught, as if remembering the terrifying moment for the first time since it happened.

"But before I could move, my mom she- she pulled out a _dagger_ , from her _purse._ And she told me to run. She told me to leave her behind and run, to save myself. But I couldn't, I was frozen."

I saw Percy listening intently. This was following almost every single line of Percy's story. This boy was reliving what Percy had gone through, the exact same horrifying past, except that this boy never got his mother back. What a horrible coincidence.

"I could only watch as my mother ran up to the beast and tried to hurt it. She did, actually, but it wasn't enough. The monster picked her up in his jaws, and hurled her against the wall. I looked around at the other people on the street, I wanted them to help, but no one could see it. No one could see that my mother was being _killed._ "

The group glanced around at each other with knowing grimaces. It was the _Mist_. The Mist that prevented anyone from seeing what was happening, and saving his mother. I could just imagine people walking by and marveling at the cute dog playing with his owner.

"I ran to my mother, I wanted to help her so badly, but she was beyond it. I would have done anything, to save her. _Anything._ " He started talking again, his eyes red. "Everything looked broken, and the dog came up to her and scratched her middle. Then he just walked away, as if killing people was just a fun little game that he sometimes got bored of. And now my mother was dead."

The boy looked on the verge of tears now, and was trembling. I could tell Percy was remembering when the same thing had happened to him, when he thought the Minotaur had killed _his_ mother.

"I was shaking with rage. I was thinking, how could he think this was ok? I was thinking, he wouldn't get away with this."

All of us were very interested now, as we knew what would happen next.

"I don't know how I did it, but I picked up my mother's dagger and I… I killed it. I killed that monster." He took a shaky breath and looked at the floor. Yup. He was a demigod.

"And everything just went back to normal. The pedestrians kept walking and ignored everything." Then he frowned.

"Except for one of them. It was… a little girl. She looked about my age. She was walking with another lady who seemed just about as ignorant as the rest, but the girl… she just stared at me in shock, then like she was going to cry. She saw the whole thing. I just knew it."

I frowned too, contemplating the situation. Maybe another demigod?

"Your step-dad, did you tell him what happened?" asked Annabeth.

"I-" his face became mad. "I tried to. He just… he didn't believe me. He always thought it was my fault. He never actually knew what happened, but he thought it was my fault. He hated me after that day. He treated me like trash."

"He's like a mini-Percy," Frank whispered.

"Do you know anything else about your dad?" Calypso asked. "Not your stepdad, your biological father."

"I uh…. well no," he said, and I sighed. "I just, know he was Greek. That's all my mom would tell me. She kept saying it would be too dangerous if I knew the truth. It didn't really make sense."

His dad was Greek? Could it be more obvious? This kid was a demigod.

"His dad could be Poseidon." guessed Jason.

"How?" asked Percy.

"Well, I've thought about it. What if he saved himself and that girl from the water? What if that's the reason they survived?"

My eyes widened. "Of course!"

"It could be the girl too," said Hazel.

"Yea but, it's one of them." Piper declared.

"Um, what?" I just realized then that the boy was still here. He looked at us, confused. "What's going on here?"

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Uh, Jace. I go by Jace."

"Is that not your real name?" Hazel questioned.

"It's my middle name."

"What's your first name?" I asked.

"It's….. it's Hercules."

I gaped at him. Oh yea. This guy was so a demigod. He just kept dropping more Captain Obvious on us.

"And my baby brother," he told us, "His name is Apollo."

 _What odd names._ I mean, I guess their not odd names, but it's odd that they were named after these people.

"It's almost scary," Annabeth started suddenly, "how much you and Percy are alike."

Hercules…. no, sorry…. Jace, leaned forward. "Really? How?"

Annabeth smiled softly. "Well first of all, you're _both_ named after heroes. Then you had a step-dad that hated you, and….and the way you lost your mom, Percy lost his mom that way too. Well actually-"

"Really? Your mom's dead too?" Jace looked at Percy with a hopeful expression, like he finally found someone he can relate too.

Percy winced, and turned away. _Yikes._ I would hate to be the one who would have to tell someone who lost their mom, that I got my mom back. "Well uh, you see, I thought she was dead…."

Jace looked at him weird. "You thought? You mean…." His expression turned sad again.

"A monster, the Minotaur precisely, came after me the day when I was….trying to get to camp. The day I learned the truth." He sighed. "Just like yours, my mother tried to protect me, she wanted me to run, but I couldn't just leave her. And...and he picked her up...he squeezed her to death. I just, blew up. I killed him."

Jace looked utterly confused. "I thought you said-"

"Well no, she didn't die. Turns out Hades had just taken her hostage."

Jace shook his head, with a face of disbelief. "Minotaur...Hades...this is not… is this a joke?"

He looked around at us, who were now wondering how to explain it to him.

Then he gave a weak laugh. "Well I guess I shouldn't be talking, huh? I saw a freaking _hellhound_."

I squinted. "You know?"

He nodded slowly. "I think. I mean I am Greek, so I knew about all this stuff…. I just, never believed it I guess. But then I saw the hellhound, and I was pretty confused after that. But now you guys… it's true isn't it?" he looked at us with an expectant face.

"You're pretty alright Jace." Percy patted him on the back, and Jace beamed.

"Now the sleeping matter." I smiled at looked straight at Jace.

"Uh…" he looked totally stuck on his words.

"Come on dude, you sure you're ok with sleeping in the middle of the hallway on the floor? It's _not_ comfortable." Percy shuddered and Annabeth snickered at him.

"Well," Jace looked lost, "I'm not sure she'd be, um….happy, if I slept next to her…"

"Buuuut... you like her don't you?" Piper leaned forward, and looked on the edge of bursting.

Jace's face reddened. "Uh…"

"Pipes!" Jason gave her a stern look. "He's never gonna say anything if you keep pressuring him like that."

Piper raised her eyebrows at him. "What do you know about love?"

He smiled and held her. "I only learned from the best."

Piper gave a small laugh. "Don't bother Jason, I'm a daughter of Aphrodite. I know flattery when I see it." Jason humphed and Piper giggled again.

Jace's eyes widened. "Are you guys all… children of the gods?"

"All of us. There are hundreds more, everywhere. And we're pretty sure you're one too." Frank looked at him.

Jace stammered. "M- me?"

We all nodded at his bewildered face. "But, I can't… I'm not really..."

"Hey," Calypso grinned at him. "Think about it. You killed a _hellhound_ , with a dagger you've never used before. In your _life._ And you have absolutely no experience. You are a natural-born hero."

He grimaced and looked at his hands. "How am I a hero, if I didn't save the one person in the world who cares about me. I didn't save anyone really. I just watched… I just watched as he killed her… I just stood there and watched…"

His face looked horrified now, as if he thought _himself_ a monster.

"All of us have made mistakes." he looked at Hazel, who also looked on the brim of tears. "All of us have done something we regret, blamed ourselves for something that happened to someone we cared about. All of us, have been through what you've been through once."

 _Sammy._ Hazel was thinking about Sammy. She was thinking about when Sammy took the precious stone from her, the cursed jewel, and he thought he was cursed for the rest of his life.

I tried to change the subject so everyone on this ship didn't start crying. "So are we decided? You're sleeping with the lovely lady?"

Jace looked embarrassed again. "Well, I don't think she'd be happy if-"

"Would you be happy though?"

He frowned. "That's a weird question."

"One that has yet to be answered."

"Well even if I would be," I wiggled my eyebrows at Jace and he glared at me, "Which I'm not," he added quickly, "Like I said she wouldn't be happy if-"

"I don't mind."

We all turned around to the stairs where the voice came from. The girl yawned as she climbed up the stairs and onto the deck.

"Uh… you don't?" Jace asked her, clearly baffled. Piper looked like she was going to scream with happiness.

The girl sighed. "Well if you don't plan on trying anything and stay on your side of the bed, then I can manage." she said with a shrug

Jace hid his smile, but not very well.

"Sure!" he said a little too happily. Then he cleared his throat. "I mean… cool."

Everyone snickered at Jace, who gave us warning glares.

It was like 6:00 now, so it wouldn't be lights out for at least another three hours.

I grabbed a deck of cards from my toolbelt and grinned like a madman. "Who's up for a game of pinochle?"

Percy groaned. "You spend too much time around Chiron and Dionysus."

"What's pinochle?" the girl and Jace asked in unison.

"You don't wanna know," Frank whispered to them.

"It's the most captivating card game of the century!" I bellowed, and the girl raised her eyebrows at me. She looked distinctly familiar…

"Come, young lady, I shall show you the rules!"

"It's Illiana. My name's Illiana."

It clicked in my brain, and I froze. "Illiana?"

 **I hope you guys liked that, and please review :) I actaully got a few more reviews, and that made me SO happy. Also I still get slightly sick when I look at a computer screen, so maybe another chapter by Friday or Saturday. I'll make it a long one! Bye :P**


	13. I Discover My Dad Is Lord Of The Fishies

**OH MY GOD I know I'm am an ENTIRE week late, and I'm so sorry. So last Saturday I completely forgot that I was going to go to New York on vacation, and I wasn't quite finished with my story. Throughout the past week I was in New York, and between everything we did, I got bits of time to write my story. Again I'm super sorry for the delay and I know I have absolutely no excuse. Just for you guys, this is my longest chapter yet so, enjoy! :)**

 **Illiana**

I stared at him blankly, not sure what to say. "Do I….know you?"

Leo sucked in a breath. "I remember you. You were…. you were that girl who got kicked out of the foster home."

I squinted. How did he know I ever went to a foster home?

Before I could ask just that, he spoke again. "I was in the same one as you. I was there the day it happened."

I nodded, but I barely remembered it. After my mom died I was put in a foster home. I only spent a short time there, but something happened…. Something I can feel was important but I didn't quite remember. I got kicked out after that but no other foster home or orphanage would take me. I would have ended up on the streets if Aunt Sarah hadn't come and found me before it resorted to that.

"The day what happened?" I asked.

"You don't remember? You destroyed the foster home. The fire and the flood." he said with wide eyes.

 _Destroyed_ the foster home?

"I did what?!" He nodded at my shocked face. "I...it's foggy," I said while searching my brain for the mysterious events of that day.

"I think, I know who your godly parent is." he turned towards Percy.

Whoa, whoa, whoa _._ Back up. _Godly parent?_ What did he mean, that my dad was a god or something? He was crazy.

"What do you-"

Leo cut me off. "I think we should go talk in the mess hall." The rest of his friends nodded and hurriedly started towards the stairs.

"Someone get Coach Hedge." suggested the young girl. The tall Chinese guy gave a thumbs-up and headed towards the other stairs.

What was going on? These people were starting to scare me. I looked to Jace for reassurance, who winked at me. I almost laughed, despite all the tension I felt between the group as we made our way to the mess hall. I latched onto his hand and he squeezed it back.

Everyone sat down at the long table, and I took my seat next to Jace. He was the only person I could be sure about in all of this. I was about to ask another question when suddenly everyone locked their eyes onto me and stared me down, as if they could figure out my weaknesses if they looked hard enough. Not a good way to make friends.

I subconsciously let out a small gasp, and the three girls immediately smiled. Their attitude was so contagious I couldn't help but smile too. Then the blonde one named Annabeth spoke up.

"Illiana?" she asked. "Are you an orphan?"

I didn't get mad. To anyone else it would have seemed like an extremely insensitive question, but something told me all these kids here understood something about it.

"Yes." I answered, suddenly feeling a pang of hurt in my chest. I didn't think would ever get over what happened to my mom.

She went missing one day. She just...never came home from work, and didn't come the day after too. Since no one could take care of me, my nanny had to stay with me for a few days, but she couldn't stay forever. A week later, on my sixth birthday I got a call from the hospital saying they found her.

Of course I was overjoyed and rushed to the hospital, but when I got there she wasn't there. I finally found the doctors, who told me I was too late, that she was gone. I was never the same after that. She must have known something was going to happen to her because the last time I saw her, the morning of the day she went missing, she told me something and I never forgot those last words to me. ' _You are special._ ' she said, ' _The answers to all your questions lie in yourself'._

But since then I've always felt like there was a hole in my heart, like a part of me was missing. A dark, gaping hole that could never be filled. Aunt Sarah was so kind and absolutely loved me, but it just wasn't the same as having your parents love you. It wasn't the same as having an actual family, that could love you.

When Annabeth spoke again it jarred me back to reality. "Did you know any of your parents?"

"My mother. She died when I was six. But I never knew my dad. Not even his name." I sniffed. "Only that he was Greek."

The rest of the group exchanged knowing looks with each other and I raised my eyebrows. Well boy, weren't they secretive.

"Leo," the caramel-haired girl asked. "What was that about her godly parent?"

"Ah, well-"

"I'm here!" a voice bellowed. I turned around quickly to see a medium-height and stubby old man. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. A _man,_ that had _goat legs._

I covered my hands over my mouth to hold back a scream, and Jace stuttered next to me.

"Wh-wh-what?!"

"What's the matter with you boy!" the goat-man yelled with narrowed eyes. "Never seen a satyr before?"

"No actually." I responded with wide eyes.

He harrumphed and dragged a dangerous-looking club to a seat at the large table. The Chinese guy followed behind him and sat next to the younger girl. I was starting to think these kids weren't normal.

"Ok," Leo started. "Back to my story. So once upon a time, there was a six-year-old and scared little girl. She came to a foster home where no one liked her, because she cried every day alone in her bunk."

I made a face. _Was he talking about me?_

"Her name was Illiana."

 _Oh. Hmph._

"Stop wasting time Leo, get to the story." yawned the green-eyed boy.

Leo raised his eyebrows. "Oh please Percy, no one tells a story like Bad Boy Supreme McShizzle! Right Calypso?"

The caramel-haired girl, Calypso, rolled her eyes and held up a tiny flag with a painted smiley face on it.

"Wooo." she said boringly. "Go Team Leo!"

"That's the spirit sunshine! Just like we practiced." he beamed at her. "Anyway, one day something huge happened at the foster home, and Illiana was blamed for it. I'll admit, now that I know my powers, I may have had something to do with it."

As Leo was telling the story, I started to recall bits and pieces of that day. Like my memory was returning to me.

"We were all in the living room, which had a huge fireplace. We all left, one by one. Illiana and I were asked to stay behind and put out the fire."

I was leaning so far forward I almost tipped over in my seat. This was it. This would answer all my questions. My memory was coming back.

"I smothered out the fire and left the room, but I remember touching the frame of the door right before, and it burst into flames. Illiana was behind me, so she was trapped behind the flaming door."

I suddenly felt scared, even though I knew I wasn't going to get hurt since it had already happened. But I racked my brain for what happened after. This was where my memories went fuzzy. I couldn't remember anything past this point.

"She was pretty smart for a six-year-old. Ran around the room screaming Hades about water. The caretakers and the rest of the kids had smelt something burning and heard the cracklings of the fire. They came up to the room and just _watched_ as a little girl attempted to save herself from a burning room."

They just _watched_? What kind of caretakers _were_ these people? I hope they got fired after this.

"As I said, Illiana was yelling on and on about water. She wanted water, she _felt_ water. Everyone just thought she had gone mad, of course. But suddenly she froze. Illiana closed her eyes and shouted for everyone in the entire neighborhood to hear. 'WATER! RISE!'"

I just looked at him, and nearly laughed. I _commanded_ the water? What did I expect, if I bossed it around enough it would grow magical abilities and come to my aid. I almost choked because of what he said next.

"And at that moment, every water pipe and tap and anything carrying water for a hundred yards, exploded."

I gaped at Leo. I definitely did _not_ remember this happening.

"They burst open and flooded the orphanage. They flooded a part of the street in front of it too. I don't know what crazy thing the mortals must have seen, but they blamed Illiana for starting both the fire and the flood."

No one talked and just stared at each other. Everyone was probably thinking about this, trying to take it in.

"I saw the truth, but it was hard to see anything because of all the fire and smoke blocking the door to the room." he turned to me, his face serious. "If you can tell us what happened from your point of view that day, we can figure out a lot more."

After a long pause, I found the courage to speak up.

"I want to help, I really do but… I don't remember a second of it."

All the kids sighed, except for the boy Percy. He stared off into space, with a weird expression on his face that I couldn't quite read.

Then the Chinese boy leaped out of his chair with an excited grin on his face.

"Hazel!" he looked at the younger girl. "I think that someone altered her memory. Someone altered the Mist."

"That would make sense." agreed Hazel. "Someone didn't want Illiana to remember that day, so they made her forget it."

"But why would anyone do that?" I wondered aloud. _And what's the Mist?_

"I don't know," replied Frank, "But I think I have a way to fix it."

He turned to Hazel again. "Do you think you can try to… _remove_ the Mist from her memory?"

Hazel squinted. "I can try. I'm not sure how though. Altering the Mist is much different when you do it to something that happened a long time ago, like in a memory. I'm not even sure it's possible."

"Well it's worth a shot." Percy suddenly seemed to be out of his trance and now had a determined look on his face. "Nothing lost in trying, right?"

Hazel let out a small sigh. "You're right. But I'm still not sure how to reach her memory."

Leo snapped his fingers. "I got it!" Everyone glanced over at him. "Hazel, you can show us a flashback. Take us all there."

"But I can only show others flashbacks of my life." she told him.

"Not true." he answered with a smile. "Remember when you were showing me a flashback of you and Sammy, and then you switched to a flashback of _my_ life?"

Hazel nodded and her eyes brightened. Leo continued. "I think if Illiana really concentrated on that day, Hazel could clear the Mist and we could all see what happened!"

"That's brilliant Leo!" Calypso mused.

"Well they don't call me Supreme McShizzle for nothing." he grinned madly and Calypso punched his chest lightly.

"Don't push it." she warned.

"Heard you loud and clear. Ok, we ready guys?" he asked, aiming the question mostly at me.

"Uh...I'm still not sure what I should do."

Leo tapped his fingers on the table. "Well, you remember at least a little part of that day, yes?"

I nodded and he continued. "All you have to do, is think about that small piece of memory you have left when Hazel takes your hand. You got it?"

I focused my mind on that one fateful day, and nodded to signal I was ready.

Everyone held hands, and the instant Hazel gripped mine the world blacked out. Suddenly, a vision came into my mind, and consumed me until I felt like I was living in that moment all over again.

I looked around and gasped. There was a little girl, identical to me, except she was half my size. A bunch of kids and two older ladies were sitting by a fireplace, trying to warm themselves in the middle of winter right before bed.

Then everyone left the room and me and a mini-Leo snuffed out the fire. I watched as little Illiana followed behind Leo as he headed out the door, but the second he stepped out, the door was aflame. The only entrance leading out of the room was blocked by fire.

Then we all heard a voice. Echoing from the walls as if the sound was aimed in no specific direction. Somehow I could tell that only mini-Illiana could hear the message.

' _Use the power of the ocean. Control the water.'_

Little Illiana was clearly not worried about the fact that the walls had just spoken to her, and asked,

"Where? Where will I find water?"

' _It is everywhere and all around you._ ' told the voice. It spoke with power and authority, as if it was used to bossing people around or something.

Then my mini-self started yelling. "Water! Where's the water! I need water!"

She continued this for another five minutes, before the powerful voice spoke again.

' _You must command the water. You must will it to follow you. You must show them that you are its ruler!"_

Six-year-old Illiana took a deep breath and shouted in an extremely powerful voice that even I can't do now. "WATER! RISE!"

I waited for one second. Two seconds. Three. And then everything in sight that contained water burst and immediately started to flood the room, and the building too I'm sure.

Everyone who was watching from outside the room had run out and left, and little Illiana was all alone in a room that was on fire and flooding, quick.

Now that I looked closer I could see some serious marks and bruises on her. _Burns._ And pretty serious-looking ones too.

I ran across the room to my younger self to inspect them more closely. She was sweating and looked like she was about ready to faint. The water was up to her chest and she looked almost dead, desperately trying to stay above.

She couldn't struggle any longer and finally passed out, sinking beneath the water that had almost completely flooded the room to its ceiling by now.

As I stared at my limp body sinking allowed and lower into the water, I wondered how I could have ever survived something like that.

Then I heard everyone gasp behind me, and looked closer at myself. Slowly, very slowly, my chest was moving up and down.

 _Was I breathing?_ Now a glowing blue light flashed near my unconscious body in the water. I stumbled back a few steps, looking straight at a tall man with sea-green eyes and a Hawaiian-patterned shirt.

"Dad." a voice said. I looked behind me and saw Percy watching the scene in front of him curiously. I had almost forgotten they were all there.

I turned back towards the large man, and watched in amazement as he waved his hand and a bubble just sprang out of nowhere and engulfed the two of them. Like….an air bubble of sorts. Mini-me opened my eyes and stared in wonder at the man.

"You're as brave as your mother." he said in the same voice that was commanding her earlier in the fire. _How did he know my mother?_

"You shall live." He took out pink square from his shirt pocket and offered it the small girl. She took it without hesitation and her eyes glazed over in delight. Then his eyes grew concerned, and he spoke once more.

"I am sorry for this, but you are too young to know the truth. You are not ready, but someday you will be." And with a final smile he flicked his wrist and disappeared. Little Illiana became unconscious once more but still remained able to breathe.

I blinked and I was back on the boat with the rest of the crew, who weren't speaking and only staring ahead blankly.

"So Percy," Annabeth started, her face morphing into a bright smile, "How do you feel about a little sister?" She ruffled his hair.

He frowned at first, then little by little the corners of his mouth lifted, and his smile grew bigger and bigger.

"I've always wanted one." he grinned, looking straight at me.

Then my brain started functioning again. _When Percy said the Hawaiian guy was his dad. When the Hawaiian guy knew my mother. Oh god._ That awful substitute teacher wasn't lying. I did have a brother. And I felt about ready to collapse.

"Who's my dad again?" I asked, not being able to think of anything to say.

Frank snapped. "You and Percy got Poseidon! Lucky kids." Then his expression grew scared and he looked up at the ceiling.

"No offense dad!" he chuckled nervously, "I love….war." he finished with a frown. I didn't know what to think about that.

"There's two of you now?!" Jason covered his face with his hands. "I can barely manage one Percy!"

Piper smacked the back of his head. "Jason!" she scolded. "You think he's bad? You're worse."

"Oooooh. You're girlfriend just roasted you." Leo laughed and Calypso raised her eyebrows.

"Look who's talking." she said with a smirk. "I could go on all day."

Leo's eyes widened, as if he was actually scared. "Spare me O powerful goddess of bullying.

Have mercy!"

Hazel almost fell off her chair in laughter. "Yea remember what happened last time? Leo burst into flames and almost burned your entire cabin!"

"It was an accident!" Leo argued defensively.

"And _accident_ that caused me a whole week of problems!" Calypso growled dangerously.

Piper saw my confused face and let out a laugh too. "Leo burned down Calypso's entire cabin, and Calypso had to share the Big House with Mr. D and Chiron." I smiled a bit at this too, though I had no idea who those people were. "Not fun." she added with a wink.

"They offered to rebuild her cabin, but Calypso made Leo do the whole thing himself to teach him a lesson." Frank joined in, also trying not to laugh. "Funniest week in camp history."

"I had to sleep outside and use the woods for a bathroom!" Leo said.

"So basically, you got what you deserved." Jace shrugged.

All of us just looked at him. And in five seconds, everyone was in fits of hilarious laughter. Percy fell off his chair and Annabeth was crying. Frank, I didn't ask, turned into a donkey, then an armadillo, and then a mouse. I was shaking and my head was buried in my hands. I was starting to feel more comfortable around these people. At least they were normal enough to have a sense of humor.

Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

 _Bang!_ A huge noise erupted through the ship, and I could feel the boat rocking dangerously. Now everyone fell off their chair, but Percy was the first one up.

"What was that?" he aimed his question towards Leo.

Leo cursed in a language that wasn't English, but somehow I could still understand it.

"I disabled the monster radar when we went to Iceland, I must have forgotten to arm it!" he cursed again.

Calypso shook her head. "No, you armed it, I remember. For air and sea attacks, but someone is on this ship. And it's not a monster."

"That's a good thing, right?" I looked around at their now fierce faces.

"Depends." Annabeth started to lead us up the stairs. "Never know if it might be a misleading sorceress who likes to turn men into guinea pigs."

Jace raised his eyebrows and I returned his look, shrugging. Something told me I _didn't_ want to know.

It must have been around 7:30, but I wouldn't have known that if there wasn't a clock in the stair hallway. It was pitch-black, so dark I couldn't see anything above deck, and I had to stumble around tightly holding onto Jace's hand with only the side railings of the boat to know where I was.

"How are we supposed to see anything, much less fight anything like this?" I heard Jason's voice whisper.

"Don't you guys have lights or something above deck?" Jace mumbled.

"Oh!" Leo whisper-yelled, "Brilliant! I _do_ have lights up here!"

He snapped his fingers. "Calypso! Turn on the lights on the entire ship!"

 _Calypso?_ He was gonna ask Calypso to go and turns on all the lights on the ship?

A robotic voice that sounded suspiciously like Calypso responded, "Ugh! You lazy boy, do you mean me to do _all_ your work. Don't you do anything yourself?"

I cocked an eyebrow. Who was _this?_

Leo crossed his arms. "Calypso…."

The robot groaned again. "Engaging whole light system. Turning lights on entire ship. There. Done. You happy?"

"Very." Leo grinned. I swear I heard the robot mutter something like "idiotic fireboy natural disaster sea scum…", but I ignored it.

Suddenly the entire deck was lit up from every angle, and it was so bright it might as well have been noon.

I was still kinda weirded out by the Calypso robot thing, and Hazel sidled up next to me.

"Leo built a computer into the ship to help control it." she whispered with a snicker. "He named it Calypso and even infused it with her attitude too." Then she reconsidered. "Well, her attitude towards Leo. She's actually very nice to everyone else."

Piper heard us and whispered too. "We know she loves him though." I smiled a bit. Everyone here on this ship seemed to know each other so well. They got along great.

Then a voice made us remember why we were here. "So what made that noise?" Jace asked.

Everyone suddenly became on guard and drew their weapons. Jace and I just stood close together, since we weren't really trained in fighting or anything.

"Something big," Calypso suggested. The real one this time. "It shook the entire boat."

"BROTHER!" A voice boomed. Everyone looked up to the lookout tower. Two huge masses flew down to the deck, with an even bigger mass on their backs.

"What is that?" I whispered in wonder. Wait. Why was I still whispering?

To my surprise, Percy sprinted up to the big person who dismounted from the horses with wings. God this was a weird place.

"Tyson, my man!" They hugged and clapped each other on the back. "How's dad's palace!"

"Big!" he said, and Percy laughed. "I made a lot of swords, and played with Briares. And then I came here!"

The two horses with wings nickered and collapsed. ' _He was so heavy boss! I think he broke every single bone in our body!'_

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. The horse talked. The horse, with wings, just talked. Percy waved them off.

"Oh please," he crossed his arms. "I've seen only one horse carry Tyson before. What's the matter with you Blackjack? I'm gone for a day and you've already become lazy as a fawn?"

The black horse whinnied again and put his face to the floor. ' _I don't feel so good boss. Ain't there any Pegasi doctor nearby? But if you have donuts that'll work too.'_

I blinked. Twice. Was I hallucinating?

Percy sighed. "Fine. If I give you donuts, will you stop complaining?" Both horses jumped to their feet and flew around in circles.

Percy continued, "And will you ride Tyson back without protest?" The horses collapsed again. ' _Maybe if you give me donuts first, I'll think about it.'_

"No, Blackjack, you can't have donuts until you agree to my terms." The horse snorted and looked away.

' _Fine. I'm only doing this for you boss. That cyclops is probably heavier than Olympus itself.'_

"Thank you." Percy strolled down the stairs and resurfaced with a bag of donuts. He tossed it to them, and the horses dug in, covering their muzzles in powdered sugar.

"They're Pegasi." Annabeth told me, seeing my confused expression.

I let out a tight laugh. "I noticed."

She raised her eyebrows, then smiled. "Are you ok then? You look kinda freaked out."

I laughed for real now. "Me, scared? No! There's two sassy Pegasi on this ship, a huge cyclops is hugging Percy, and the Pegasi talk! What's there to be scared of?" I droned sarcastically.

Annabeth laughed too, then stopped abruptly. "Wait," she said, squinting her eyes, "The Pegasi...talk?"

I frowned. "Yes of course they do! They were just asking Percy for donuts."

Now everyone was looking at me, including Percy. "Of course she can guys, her dad's Poseidon. She's like me!"

The horse Percy called Blackjack whinnied in delight. ' _Now there's two people to get us donuts! This is great McShizzle!'_

The dark brown Pegasi with a black mane, which I'm assuming was McShizzle, stomped his hooves against the deck ' _I'll have a glazed chocolate donut with a side of 10 more glazed chocolate donuts'_

I didn't know what to say. "Uhhh…." How do you respond to a Pegasus?

Leo ran up to McShizzle and clapped its back. The Pegasi nuzzled him, but Blackjack trotted away nervously.

' _Nuh-Uh man! Get your fiery hands of death away from me!'_

Calypso rolled her eyes at Leo, who was now taking rounds of the ship on McShizzle.

"All the other horses hate him. Percy says they're scared of Leo's fire and don't trust him."

I thought of what Leo did to Calypso's cabin and thought, _I wonder why._

"McShizzle was the only Pegasi that would even go near him. So instantly Leo connected and named it McShizzle."

Wow. Creative.

And then the scariest thing all day happened. Somehow scarier than everything so far, which is saying something.

The huge cyclops boy lumbered over to me across the boat in five giant steps, and wrapped me in a bone-crushing hug.

I swear Percy _laughed_ when I squeaked out a 'help' and Annabeth and Piper said 'awwww'.

Only Jace seemed to notice my internal suffering, and did something to stop it.

"Um…excuse me ?" he tapped the cyclops on the arm nervously. "Yea, buddy? I think you're hurting her."

Tyson released me and I dropped to the floor. I laid flat on my back and stared up at the sky, feeling dizzy.

He spread his arms and gave me a toothy smile. "SISTER!"

"Sister?!"

"No, I'm your brother!"

"Uh…."

"You're pretty."

I frowned, and looked at Percy. "I have _two_ brothers?"

He nodded and I sighed, closing my eyes. "Would it be too much to ask if I could have a sister?"

Everyone laughed and I turned back to Tyson, who was still smiling. His face and attitude reminded me of that of a three-year-old, and I could definitely tell he was one big cupcake.

I grinned at the cyclops and he beamed back. Then he turned to Percy. "Brother! I have come with news from daddy! Can we talk in the morning? I am sleepy now."

"Sure buddy, but I'm pretty sure we don't have any more guest rooms."

Tyson still smiled. "That is ok. I will sleep under the stars and the sky."

Percy sighed. "Sometimes you just remind me so much of Bob."

Annabeth got teary-eyed and looked at the stars. "Bob says hello." she whispered.

I didn't know what they were talking about, but I felt like crying too. Bob must have been someone they knew, maybe someone they lost. I didn't ask of course, because if it was someone that died I would probably sound insensitive. I had gone through the same thing after all.

"He made the biggest sacrifice of all." Annabeth sighed.

"We'll never forget him. And one day, he'll come back. He'll reappear in Tartarus and we'll come back for him." Percy said.

"Always."

Okay, so maybe I hadn't gone through the same thing. But I could kinda relate.

"Ok kids, bedtime!" Leo broke the silence.

Then, my cheeks reddened. I was going to sleep with Jace.

Jace seemed to notice and bent down to my ear. "It'll be fine." he whispered. "It's a big bed. You stay on your side, and I'm on mine. Kay?"

"Mhm." I replied, trying very hard to keep myself from blushing.

We all walked down to the hallway with the cabins, and me and Jace went into the same one. We both crawled into the bed, but turned to opposite directions. This was already super weird.

Then Leo walked in and snapped his fingers. "Lights out!" The lights in our cabin switched off and he left, but not before peeking his head back in. "Be good!"

I blushed again, and closed my eyes. This was going to be a long night.

 **So, hope you liked that chapter. Thank you for the guest review that was hoping I could feel better for the holidays, I really do appreciate your concern. I'm still a little sick but it didn't bother me much in New York, cause I barely looked at a screen. And now you guys know I'm terrible with deadlines, so I'm hoping to get out a new chapter by Wednesday or Thursday. Keep reading! See you soon :P**


	14. Not Demigods, We're Smelly-Frauds

**WOW, I am REALLY bad at sticking to deadlines. I seriously can't believe this happened you guys. I was actually going to make this chapter twice as long but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging so I stopped it here. I think I'm going to start posting chapters just once a week. Hope you enjoy this one!**

 **Frank**

 _Not again._

I awkwardly pulled myself out of bed and hopped onto the floor, my large, hairy knuckles pressed to the ground.

With a sigh, I looked at the mirror in front of me, and grimaced at my reflection. At least it wasn't as bad as yesterday.

I was a gorilla. A darn effing gorilla. And Holy Hera did I make one ugly gorilla.

I yawned and closed my eyes, concentrating. I felt my body retract and shrink, until I was just plain old Frank again, the Chinese Canadian baby man.

In case you were wondering what I was yesterday….now don't laugh. I was a giraffe.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking, how did a giraffe fit in my bed, much less my room? Your answer, it didn't.

I woke up yesterday with my feet curled up against the wall, slightly protruding out the door, and my head was touching the opposite wall. My long neck was hanging off the side of the bed and I had horrible cramps for the rest of the day, in my knees and neck.

What about every other day, you ask? It's not so bad. Once I was a fly, but I was almost sat on by Clarisse. It was the week I was visiting Camp Half-Blood, and I'm pretty sure she did it on purpose. Another time I was a cat, and once I woke up as a bat.

Other times, like yesterday, gave me serious aches and pains. I've been an elephant, a goose, and a goat (Coach and Grover didn't get the problem).

And now, as my gorilla-turned-normal self, I somehow couldn't go back to sleep even though changing like that could take all the energy out of me. Maybe it was because I had just woken up _from_ sleep.

I looked at the clock and found out it was 4:00 in the morning, and rolled back my shoulders which were still aching from the whole gorilla thing. I wondered why I wasn't feeling that tired and stomped up the stairs, feeling too lazy to be quiet.

I reached the deck and was completely speechless. It was bright as day outside. No actually, brighter than day.

I cursed as I paced the deck. I knew Day was struggling to fight Night and her timing and powers were all wonky and stuff, but if she kept this up mortals would start to notice. If they hadn't already, I realized with a start. The Mist wouldn't be able to hide things forever.

I wonder what the mortals would make of this. ' **BREAKING NEWS: It's night and day at all the wrong times! Scientists conclude that either the sun is dying, or the Earth is spinning out of its orbit and no longer rotating in its regular direction. But don't worry, I'm sure everything is under control.'**

I chuckled half-heartedly. Mortals always dropped all their problems demigods without even realizing it. If something were to happen, like the time when the Typhon awoke and created havoc among the entire country, we would have to try and save everyone ourselves including the mortals, while all the mortals would observe and wait for their problems to be solved.

But of course, they didn't know any better. And once again, we would have to solve this problem ourselves while the mortals just watched.

Then suddenly, I heard a low whistle. And it was coming from….outside the boat?

I slowly tiptoed up to the ledge, contemplating the deadliest animal to turn into if I encountered a monster. Maybe a bear, or a lion? A shark would be good too, considering the threat was in the water.

The….whatever it was, whistled again, as if beckoning me. I frowned and walked the rest of the distance to the edge, seeing nothing but vast sea.

"Oi! You!" I whipped my head around frantically, searching in vain for the mysterious voice. "You! Yes you!"

I still couldn't find the source of the voice, and moved up and down the side of the ship. "Stop moving around like an octopus!"

I froze, and frowned. _Octopus?_ That's a new one.

"Hey! Chinese weasel boy! Over here! Are you that blind?"

Now I was really confused. Who was this exactly?

Then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a head bobbing out of the water.

"Yes, finally!" The man bellowed. I finally saw a flash of his tail behind him and realized this guy was a merman. His skin was sorta green, and his hair was blonde. His piercing green eyes held mine, and I swallowed. He did _not_ look friendly.

"You! I have been looking for you!"

I gulped. Way to sound welcoming. "Ummm, why?"

"Well, one of you. You're one of the seven, yes?"

"Ummm, why?"

He frowned. "Can you speak boy?"

"Ummm, why?"

The fish man cursed. "I must have come across one with brain damage."

Then he took a deep breath. "HELLO!" He yelled up to me and I squinted. What exactly was he trying to do?

"I COME IN PEACE. DO YOU HAVE A LEADER?"

Stupid me, I said back. "Ummm, why?"

I face-palmed. Now he must really think I'm an idiot.

I cleared my throat and put on my best 'leader' face. "What I meant was, its kinda 4:00 AM in the morning, so who are you and why are you here?"

He scratched his head. "4:00 AM you say? Why I've been floating here all day waiting for one of you sleepyheads to come up."

I got confused, and then my brain clicked. "It's not actually daytime. It's basically been night for the past eight hours."

He raised his eyebrows and pointed at the sky. "But-"

I stopped him. "Day's having a few problems."

He nodded and crossed his arms. "So I've heard."

I did the same and stared at the horizon, waiting for him to say something. He came here to see us, right?

I shifted in the awkward silence. Wasn't he gonna tell me something?

"Uh, hello?" I jarred him from his thoughts and he blinked, before looking back up at me.

"Yes, yes. As for who I am…" he scoffed. "You're joking, right? I am one of the greatest merheroes of all time! I am the great…"

I waited.

"The powerful…."

I waited more.

"BOB!"

And then I blinked. I actually just stood there for a good few days I think, before he spoke again.

"You know, Bob!" He nodded, grinning.

I didn't know what to say, so I went along with it, hoping I wouldn't get on his bad side.

"Ah, yes. Bob."

He sighed. "Yes, yes, I know, you want my autograph. There will be time for that later."

 _His autograph?_ Who was he again?

"Uh...yes! Your autograph, oh mighty...Bob."

"You must be honored to meet me! After all, I defeated the terrifying sea monster, _Crustulum_."

"Oh, really? Wow. I uh...Heard he was a tough one." _Crustulum?_ I raised an eyebrow, realizing something.

"Doesn't that name mean like, 'cookie' in Latin?" I held back a laugh and he scowled.

"No! I mean yes! Uh...don't let the name fool you! He was one _scary_ cookie."

"Right." I turned away from him to maintain a straight face. "So uh, you're here because?"

"Right! Well I know you are absolutely ecstatic to be in my presence, and you think I have come just to please my worldwide fans but,"

He shook a finger at me, "I have come because you need our help."

I scrunched up my nose. "We do?" I asked bluntly.

"Yes!" he replied, annoyed. This guy was nuts. I decided to change the subject.

"Uh...you said our?"

"Huh?" He seemed confused.

"You said, 'you need our help'. Who is our?"

He snapped his fingers. "Well the mermen of course!"

I tried not to look exasperated. "There are….more of you?"

I mean, _duh_ there were more. But there were more stupid, arrogant ones like him who thought we needed their help? We were fine on our own, thank you very much. This guy was seriously getting on my nerves.

Maybe it was just that it was up early and I was cranky. Or maybe it was just that this guy brought out the worst in me. It could honestly be either one.

He squinted. "Are you _sure_ you aren't suffering any brain damage?"

I scowled at his expression. Did he really think he was better than me or something?

"Why'd you ask? I'm pretty sure I'm capable of cutting you up into tiny pieces and scattering your remains in the toilets of the _Argo II._ "

Then I frowned at myself. Where was this coming from?

' _Get'im good son! Really punch him in the guts!'_

I groaned. _Mars._ Of course.

I looked back at Bob's now horrified face. It probably had thirty seconds to apologize or _I'd_ be the one who gets cut up into tiny pieces and scattered into the toilets of the _Argo II_.

I sighed. "Okay, look. I don't want a fight, I just want to know why you're here." I thought about our 'talk' earlier and added something before he could speak, "Preferably in as few words as possible, and maybe cut down just a teensy bit on the bragging."

He humphed at me. "Well since you asked _so_ nicely." His voice dripped with sarcasm. "I came because my former teachers want to see you again."

Again? The only mermen I've ever met were-

"Aphros and Bythos. Perhaps you remember them?"

 _Ohhhh._ The ichthyocentaurs! " _Now_ I know where I remember your name from! Or maybe it sounded familiar because of Bob The Titan…. Mhm, yeah, I'm pretty the only Bob I've ever heard of was the titan that helped Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus. Or maybe Aphros and Bythos mentioned you once…"

Bob's face was red with anger and I cursed under my breath. _Man,_ was I blowing this.

"I mean… Yes! Of course I know you those two are! The ones from Camp-"

I was about to say Camp Fish-Blood, but I stopped myself. That was just Leo's nickname for the mer camp. It wasn't its _actual_ name.

"Uh, yeah. The ones from camp. Right?"

Bob frowned. "Well, yeah. Camp —."

I couldn't even describe the sounds he made, but it did make him sound mental and I stifled laughter again.

I cleared my throat. "Why do your teachers want to see us?"

Bob laughed. "Well they want to ally with you of course! You can't win the coming war, with _just_ your seven smelly-frauds."

I narrowed my eyes. Who was he calling smelly-frauds? Ohhh, did he mean-

"Or was it demigods? Honestly, I don't remember. No wait, I think it was phlegmy-coughs. Actually… it's teddy-squads, isn't it?"

He looked up at my bewildered face and face-palmed himself. "I'm so sorry. It was jelly-wads, right?

I could _not_ believe this guy. I shook my head and growled inwardly. "No, we're demigods."

He squinted. "Semi-rods? I'm sure it was-"

"NO! DEMIGODS!" I yelled over the side of the deck, probably waking up half the crew in the progress. I glanced nervously over at Tyson at the very edge of the deck, who was somehow still sleeping soundly. I was guessing the pegasi were still in the stables, and no one had come above deck to scold me yet, so I was lucky that time.

If I talked to this guy any longer I'd probably end up turning into an octopus and strangling him with all eight hands. Hey, eight times the pain. Sounded pretty good to me.

Bob rose his eyebrows at me. "Jeez, you didn't have to yell. You have one out of control temper Zhang."

"How do you know my name?" I asked him suspiciously.

He waved his hand dismissively. "Oh please. My teachers have told me all about you, Fireboy, and Death Girl. You're Chinese Canadian Baby Man!"

I just hated this guy more and more. "What do you mean war?" I said, trying to change the subject.

"Are you that blind? Look up! The sky is at war with itself. Which means, so are their armies." he told me this while rolling his eyes, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Their armies?" I asked.

"Yes! Nyx is already lining the entire coast of Greece, then soon all of Rome too with her forces! So Hemera must have an army too." Then he tapped his chin. "You _are_ fighting for Day, yes?

I almost felt like diving in there to whack him on the head. You know, to knock some sense into him. Pffft, it wasn't like I wanted to hurt him or anything….

"Yes, of _course_ we're fighting for Day! And can I meet your camp directors in person? No offense but, I don't really trust you." It was blunt, but honest.

Bob scoffed at me. "Well...the feeling's mutual." he muttered. "Just jump in."

I didn't want to, but I knew full well that the only way I could see the ichthyocentaurs was if I jumped in. I was just hoping this fish-man didn't get any ideas and try to kill me or anything.

I took a deep breath and jumped over the side of the boat. I felt myself sink into the depths of the ocean, and closed my eyes as Bob pulled me in the right direction. Suddenly, I felt the atmosphere around me change, and the temperature rise.

I finally opened my eyes to find Bob leading me through the same place Hazel, Leo, and I visited last time. The underwater camp for merheroes.

Bob let go of my hand and gestured towards the sight in front of him. But stop right there, it's not what you're thinking.

It was a forest, of kelp. And hey, it was just like I remembered. Big, boring, and slimy.

Bob gave me a look of annoyance, and made a hand gesture as if to shoo me away. "Go on. Go."

I frowned. He treated me as though I were an animal. Well, I kinda was. Was I? But did he know that?

I grumbled to myself and tried in vain to navigate through the thick underwater plants. I couldn't even tell where I was going. Wait, was I going backward? Yeah, I had a funny feeling I was swimming back to the place where Bob left me.

Then Bob appeared out of nowhere scaring the Hades out of me, then smirking, as if getting me lost and helpless was part of his plan all along. I gave him a dirty look. What a jerk.

He grabbed me by the arm, and sure enough, led me in the opposite direction than I was going, until we reached a clearing. No matter how many times I saw it, the view would never seize to amaze me.

The picture in front of me reminded me of New Rome, except it would have to be New Greece. An entire town of Greek style-buildings, complete with temples and courtyards, stretched out at the bottom of an underwater hill. It was crowded with various sea plants and cyclopes and sea creatures. And oh, mermen.

I puzzled again how two camps so far away from each other could be so similar, from the camp's architecture, straight down to the fish-centaurs. Except, of course, for the fact that the welcoming committee wasn't totally perfect.

I could remember our visit like it was yesterday. Hazel, Leo and I had sunk down here after the attack by that giant squid, and then been treated and interrogated as though we were spies sent to murder them all. But, after we cleared that little misunderstanding we got along just fine.

Now I was again standing at the top of this hill, watching merheroes of all ages going about their daily business as if everything was normal and perfect. Except it wasn't. Cause after Bob's confirmation, I was sure of it. The war was coming.

Well all of those delightful thoughts escaped my head when one extra-large and extra-excited fish-centaur swam up to me.

"Hank!" Aphros galloped...or swam? I couldn't actually tell what it was, but he came up to me nonetheless.

"I see you have met our messenger!"

I smiled at his attitude. If only he had been this welcoming the first time. Then suddenly I frowned, realizing his mistake.

"Hank?" I asked. Then I realized something else. "Your messenger?"

He made a confused look, then one of realization. "Hank, Blank, same difference. And yes, our messenger."He gestured boredly at Bob, who had swum down the hill and was currently chasing a pufferfish.

"Uh...Bob?" I felt really confused, and I must have looked it too, because Aphros gave me a look.

"Well, yes. One of our campers. He is a horrible fighter and doesn't have a very good chance of becoming a hero. He's what you would call...a wannabe."

He gave a wary glance down the hill at Bob, who was nursing an injured hand after the pufferfish attacked him.

I snickered. So turns out he _wasn't_ a great underwater world-reknown merhero after all.

"He is Bill's brother. Ah, we expected more of him." Aphros sighed.

 _Bill, that_ was the name of the merhero I Aphros had mentioned last time! Not _Bob_.

Aphros's face brightened. "We have summoned here today, some of the greatest merheroes still alive."

"Is one of them Bill?" I asked, just out of curiosity.

"Yes!" He bobbed up and down in the water like a child. "Along with more of them too."

"Why are they here?" I asked.

His face turned serious. It didn't really make me feel comfortable, considering his size and scary macho-manness.

"We must discuss, the _war._ " The way he said it made me shiver, as if an unseen cold wind had passed over me.

Aphros's smile returned. "Come! We must not be late for the ceremony!"

"What cere- AAAAH!" I didn't have time to finish my question because Aphros swung me into his back, and I had to hold on for dear life as he sped into the heart of the camp.

Aphros entered a wide building that looked sort of like a mixture of a theatre and a school gym. Except that there were no chairs anywhere. And that it was underwater.

I was about to ask another question, but when I turned around Aphros was missing. I scratched my head, casting wary glances in the direction of the shark-toothed, weapon-wielding, killing machines around me. _Mermaids._

A booming voice distracted me from my thoughts of escaping, and I turned towards the large stage in the front.

Bythos had a large conch shell pressed to his mouth, and was speaking into it. Aphros was smiling giddily next to him. What's got him so excited?

"Today we are being honored by visits from some of the greatest merheroes of all time." Bythos spoke with a serious tone.

I became worried. A bunch of merheroes were summoned, and one of the seven were asked to come here? This must be _really_ serious.

"We have never been in the presence of such great heroes before." I whipped around to face a fierce-looking mermaid, who was staring adoringly at the curtains of the stage as if expecting a prince to hop out and throw roses at her.

I snorted. Must be such _great_ heroes, I thought. So _great_ , I've never even heard of them before.

I turned my attention back to the mermaid beside me, who was now eyeing me curiously, a slight snarl on her lips. How friendly.

She had short, black hair that went slightly past her shoulders. Half of it was tied up into a half-ponytail, with a gangly piece of slime-colored seaweed. Weird fashion statement but, it must have been a thing around here.

She had black eyes and slightly tanned skin. The mermaid was still sizing me up and looked like she could eat me. I almost whimpered under her glare. _Great going Frank_ , I thought. Any moment now I'll turn into a fish or something and she actually _will_ eat me.

"Uh...yes. Such...great heroes." I was hoping she didn't bring them up again, or she would find out that I didn't really know who the heck she was talking about and she would kill me. If I was lucky, it would be a quick death.

"I, am Amaryllis. The best fighter at camp." Amaryllis held her head high and turned away from me.

"Uh, ok." Well wasn't she _wonderful_. "And I'm-"

"No, you pesky human. Who you are, isn't important." She rolled her eyes and said this with such an obvious tone, I almost agreed with her.

"Of course, you _humans_ wouldn't understand the importance of us heroes. You're too busy waddling around on those hideous _legs_ and letting the world solve all your problems for you, while us merheroes have fight for ourselves."

I raised my eyebrows. Were all merheroes this snobby? Amaryllis continued her rant as if she didn't notice any problems.

"We have bravery, drive, and skill. Everything you lazy land tredders don't." She paused for a moment. "And not to mention _zoos_." She shuddered. "Oh those poor animals…" she sniffled.

"I'm not completely human," I said defensively.

Amaryllis frowned. "What are you then?" She lifted up my arm and poked my forehead which caused me to stumbled a few steps backward. "Half _worm_? Well, it's entirely possible." She scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Your build is large but everything else is like jelly."

As if to prove her point, she slapped the back of my legs with her tail, and _hard._ My knees wobbled and gave way, causing me to slowly sink to the floor. The water and floaty atmosphere around me slowed my 'fall', but if this was on land I would have caused a much more embarrassing scene.

'No." I rose slowly, dusting of particles from the sandy ocean floor. It was weird they should have walls and roofs, but not floors.

"I'm half god." I didn't know what I was expecting with this declaration. Was I thinking she would drop to her knees and beg me for forgiveness or something? Well, what happened was quite the opposite actually.

She scowled at my face. "That's even worse! Demigods think they are so _special_ , when they don't even realize their talents and powers are only inherited from their parents. They've had everything just handed to them." Amaryllis slowly tooks steps forward, and I stepped back.

"Well, you know what little _half-god_? Merheroes, were not born with our abilities. We've earned them, and used them for the right cause. Oh, I've heard _all_ about your kind." She scowled once again. What did she have against our _kind_?

"You selfish demigods take advantage of powers granted freely to you, and use them for all the wrong reasons. Yet somehow, you still think you are superior to us."

Then her eyes turned towards the stage. "You're lucky you're still alive. Aphros and Bythos assured us of your intended peace towards the camp." She urgently glanced at the stage once more. "But any decent merhero would've gathered an army by now at the sight of demigod filth."

And with that, she swam off to a cluster of merheroes, leaving me stunned. A loud voice distracted me once again from my thoughts.

"Merheroes and sea creatures alike!" Bythos boomed into his conch shell. "Let us begin the ceremony!"

 _ **TO BE CONTINUED...**_

 **So how'd you like it? Oooh and guess what? Amaryllis was modeled after my best friend Rachel! She is actually super sweet ;) COMMENT WHEN YOU SEE THIS RACHEL :P Kay so, expect the next chapter by Sunday, bye guys! :)**


	15. I Am Almost Executed (Hypothetically)

**Hey guys. I know I haven't posted in months, and I have no excuse, but I seriously am starting to hate deadlines. Dont worry though, I would never abandon this story, but I got a serious case of writer's block and I was having trouble writing this chapter. I'll try to post every two to three weeks, but please know that I will not just STOP writing, and I WILL finish the story :) I love you guys, keep reading :3**

 **Frank**

" _Merheroes and sea creatures alike!" Bythos boomed into his conch shell. "Let us begin the ceremony!"_

I swam up to the front to get a closer look at what was going on, and decided to stay near Amaryllis. At least I could be sure she wouldn't eat me. She probably thought I wasn't important enough to be eaten.

Aphros took over the conch shell from Bythos. "A few of the most magnifect heroes from our time, who themselves fought on the front lines in the war against the old leaders of the sea. When the ocean was at war with itself, during the second Titan war, these merheroes still fought gallantly thus leading our side to victory!"

I heard hoots and cheers from the crowd, impatient to see the so-called celebrities in person. I've never heard of a war under ocean at the same time as the Titan War. Well I did hear Percy mention some problems with old leaders or something….maybe that was it.

Aphros continued on with his speech of their astonishing accomplishments, which I kinda tuned him out, and instead wondered about random things like, _Do merheroes like Ares here, since they fight so much?_ , or, _Can I turn into a mermaid?_

What finally got my attention was when the large black curtains (was this place also used for funerals?) opened.

"Behold!" Bythos bellowed. "The one, the only….."

Wow. Well didn't they like suspense.

"BILL!"

His words were followed by thunderous applause and what sounded like a dangerous horde of screaming girls. The out-of-control shouts and shrieks of fan girls were quickly muffled by large fish wearing blue caps and fish-sized police uniforms.

Huh. What a weird place. I wonder what would have happened if Percy blew up another school and fish-police came to arrest him. Wouldn't that be funny.

Anyways, a large, buff merman swam out from the dark of the area behind the curtain, and was met with the sound of more screaming girls. Looks like the fish-police couldn't get to them on time.

Bill the merman smiled smugly and waved, as though we were king of the hundreds of mermaids crowded in front of him. He might as well have been king too, cause it looked like these people worshipped him.

He ran his hands through his black hair and next to me bunch of mermaids fainted. But Amaryllis, I noticed, was acting differently. She was looking at Bill with not a look of adoration and love, but one of respect. No, she wasn't head over heels for these merheroes, they were her idols.

I turned back to the stage just as Aphros was announcing the next merhero.

"And now, JOE!"

I choked on….well basically nothing. But I did clear me throat a few times, breaking into a coughing fit that attracted quite a few stares despite the fact that there was a celebrity making his way onto the stage right now.

Joe was a lean and tall, but not as buff looking as Bill. His long and shaggy brown hair half covered a set of green eyes similar to Percy's, and he had a dark shade of blue skin with shark-teeth glinting horribly as he smiled at the cheering mermaids.

"TOM!"

This time I just stared. Why? Just, why? I highly doubted anyone, other than these mermaids of course, would ever take these heroes seriously.

The merman who strutted onto stage was a short, unimpressive fellow. He was extremely scrawny and sashayed in front crowd with an attitude that reminded me entirely of Leo. He kinda looked like Jason too, with his blondish hair and blue eyes.

Bythos raised his conch shell to his mouth again, and I snorted.

I whispered to Amaryllis. "Who's next?" I snickered. "Dan?"

Amaryllis frowned and waved me off. "Don't be silly you insufferable human."

"ED!"

Amaryllis gave me a look. "Dan is on vacation in the Pacific."

I just groaned. Of _course_ there was a Dan.

I glanced up at the stage to watch _Ed,_ swim up stiffly to the front of the stage, then stand in line with the three other merheroes.

Ed's looks were like a combination of Coach Hedge and Hephaestus. He was old, like middle-aged, and had a stern, angry look on his face.

A shortly cut, graying beard and mustache covered up the bottom half of his face, which was maybe a good thing. He was buffer than Bill, but the one thing that made him stand out, was his…..let's say, slightly…... disfigured….. uhh...

You know what? Man, was that merman ugly. He had hideous scars running down his left cheek that were enhanced and shriveled up by scabs, and all his facial features like his eyes, nose and mouth, were squished towards the middle of his face. His lips were locked into a permanent scowl, and it didn't help his attitude much when he received a small, half-hearted applause from the now-silent crowd.

Yikes. Was that natural for a well-known hero to be that unpopular?

He didn't seem so lovable either. But something told me he's been through more than all of these merheroes combined.

Suddenly the crowd started to disperse, and enter a larger courtyard to the right. Not knowing what to do for sure, I quickly spotted Amaryllis and hurried to follow her.

We entered a magnificent garden occupied by fifteen or so, long marble tables that were already being filled by scores of mermaids.

I headed over to one near the front, but was stopped abruptly by a someone grabbing my arm and pulling me in a different direction.

I was being pulled so that my back was turned to my captor, and struggled for a few seconds before finally realizing that whoever was dragging me along wouldn't take my nonsense.

A brilliant idea sparked in my head. Well maybe not to you, but in Frank standards, during a time of distress, this went pretty far.

In a flash, I felt my body widen and shrink in certain parts, and my legs molded together. My arms shrunk and my forehead grew a spike.

I whipped around in the water, ready to give that person a piece of my mind, and saw Amaryllis make a wild dive for the floor to avoid my long horn.

Her wide eyes assessed my appearance as she gave a little gasp.

"Uh….what?" I felt pretty confused.

"What _are_ you?" Slowly, she lifted up her finger and poked my nose. I blinked multiples times, then gave her a curious look.

"Uh...well a narwhal."

She suddenly grabbed my horn, and tugged. With a yelp I propelled myself out of her grasp and swam a few feet back.

"HEY! What's your problem?!" I winced and tried to glance above my forehead to look at my hopefully-not-damaged horn.

Amaryllis gave me a startled expression, and I frowned.

"You know….a narwhal." I explained simply, but she still didn't seem to understand. "Like, the unicorns of the sea!"

"A unicorn?" She looked at me suspiciously. "Is that supposed to be...some type of plant?" Her eyes brightened. "Like corn! Except…. _uni_?"

I gasped. "If Piper were here she would kill you."

Amaryllis scrunched up her nose and dismissed my statement. "Well excuse me, Mr. sea unicorn," she started, "but could you turn back? I would feel much more comfortable punching your human self than hurting a sea creature."

I changed back into Frank, before suddenly realizing what she meant and yelped as she swung for my face.

"You ungrateful human!" she hollered. "You almost kill me with your horn, talk to me about naywalls and umicors, don't let me punch you, and you don't even thank me?"

My eyes widened in surprise. "Thank you? Why would I thank you! For Olympus's sake you just kidnapped me!"

She became confused. "Kidnapped you? I just saved your life! If you had sat down at that table the security sharks would have had you executed!"

I gulped. "Uh….executed? You-you guys still do that here?"

She frowned. "Still? What are you talking about, boy? Execution is the most modern way to be rid of your enemies."

I raised my eyebrows. "You guys don't really get above water very often, do you?"

She gasped as if i had just said something highly offensive. 'Why, it is forbidden! It means certain death!"

"Huh. Interesting. So you're telling me, no one in this camp has ever seen the light of day for millennia?

She smacked her forehead. "Humans can't be so stupid." she said to herself, but loud enough so that I could hear her. "Yes of _course_ we've seen the sky and been above water before. How do you think you're messenger came and got you?"

I thought about it. "Oh." I said stupidly. A million points for the merheroes, and zero for the humans. Wow, Frank. You're really making a _great_ reputation for us.

"We are forbidden," she continued. "To make contact with any human or human structure, like a ship. We cannot go above water near land or boats, and must not hang around underwater near them either."

"But… wouldn't the Mist make humans see like, a dolphin or something?"

Amaryllis gave me a warning look. "You can never be too sure. Humans have done unspeakable things to our sea creatures, but imagine the outcome if they found us mermaids. It would be a horror one could not even think of."

She turned her back towards me. "So you can excuse me, if I don't fully trust you. Demigod or not, you are still human nonetheless." Then she gestured towards the table that I was trying to sit at earlier. "That table is reserved for the merheroes and the ichthyocentaurs. You are not to sit your butt upon it, unless called forth by the current occupants of the table itself."

I guess I kind of understood, but I needed to talk to Aphros and Bythos. "So, um...hypothetically, if some...let's say….human," She narrowed her eyes at me but let me continue,

"If some human, just happened to, I don't know…. walk up to that table, and hypothetically, _talk_ to the...uh… current occupants of that table, hypothetically, what would happen to the said human." I paused. "Hypothetically."

"Well then," she said simply, "hypothetically, he would be executed."

My eyes widened. "Hypothetically?"

She nodded. "Hypothetically."

I'm pretty sure we both didn't know the meaning of that word, but it felt real nonetheless.

"But since his offense wasn't too bad, we would have mercy on him and make it a quick death." She smiled as if this was all perfectly normal.

I gulped. There goes my plan of getting out of her anytime soon. I just wanted to find out their problem, and get back to sleep.

But it seems I didn't have to wait too long, because immediately Aphros and Bythos swam up to me.

"Come, Hank! You must meet our heroes!"

I followed the two ichthyocentaurs cautiously, and tried to ignore the haughty stares from the merheroes seated along the polished table.

Carefully I took my seat beside Ed, the old and gruff looking man who was paying no attention to me whatsoever. That sent a wave of relief through me. I have expected him to beat me up as soon as I sat down.

The only reason I did find a seat next to him was because that was the only empty spot. It seemed as if everyone had been shifted to one end of the table, squished and separated from him as if he had a disease.

I kinda felt bad for the guy, but he didn't seem to mind. He looked like what a person would call, a "lone wolf".

Anyways, as soon as I sat down the merheroes started eyeing my suspiciously, as if wondering why here was a _human_ sitting at their table.

Joe scoffed with disgust. "Why is there a _human_ sitting at our table?" I thought so.

Bill harrumphed at waved his hand dismissively. "Yes. Were we not called here for something _important._ Surely this human can understand that this meeting is for serious matters."

I frowned. "Well I'll have you know I was also… _summoned,_ here today. I'm just as needed here as the rest of you selfish jerks."

I expected someone to start clapping or go, ' _Oooo, burrrn'_ , but what instead happened was quite disappointing. I sighed. I never was really smart with words.

The merheroes started cracking up, and even Ed showed a faint smile beneath his layer of gruffness. The ichthyocentaurs raised their eyebrows at me disapprovingly.

"Was that supposed to be _funny?_ " Bythos asked seriously.

I was seriously confused. "Uh...what?"

Tom smiled rudely at me. If that was possible. "Are you that dumb? You do realize what you just said, do you not?"

I continued to stare stupidly at their faces.

Bill sighed happily as if I had just said the funniest thing in the world. "How courageous of him! Tell me human, are all of you this bold?"

The rest of them laughed again, and I recoiled.

"What do you mean?" I asked, baffled.

Joe snorted. "Ha, the nerve! To make fun of our kind, but look who's talking!"

They all burst into laughter and I stared at them crossly. What the heck were they talking about even?

" _Anyways_ ," I stared pointedly at Aphros and Bythos who seemed to dismiss the merheroes rudeness, " Can we get on with what I came here for? Which was asking you what I came here for?"

Bythos cleared his throat and Aphros held back another laugh. "Ah, yes. The war."

He gestured towards the mercampers all laughing carelessly and talking and having fun. I sighed. What I would give right now to finish off this quest and just relax.

"They know nothing. No one does, except for these merheroes, us, and a small few in the camp." Bythos said softly. "So you must not blab, Hank. You must guard this secret from the mermaids and mermen, for if word spreads through the camp there will be chaos and that will not help sight the war efforts."

I tried to ignore the fact that the ichthyocentaurs couldn't stop calling me Hank and instead agreed with Bythos.

"Yes, I swear on the River Styx I won't tell a soul in your camp that doesn't already know. You can trust me, I promise."

Aphros and Bythos nodded towards each other as if they believed me, but the merheroes were still casting skeptical glances at me. To them I was just a lowly, untrustworthy, and dumb human. Well, all I needed were for the ichthyocentaurs to trust me and tell me what was going on so I didn't mind the mermen.

"I believe by now you know that there is a war coming?" Aphros said to me.

"Well yeah, I always suspected it but all of you basically confirmed it so, yes I know."

"So you also know the two forces that _are_ at war." he continued.

I nodded warily. "Day and Night. Hemera and Nyx."

"So then, if you know that Day and Night itself are at war, then so is the world. And we must pick a side."

I was about to agree with him when I suddenly realized his choice of words, and the way he said them. _Pick a side_? He wasn't considering both, was he?

I squinted at him. "As in, you need to _pick_ between Day and Night?"

Bythos narrowed his eyes at me. "I'm not sure how your mind handles things, but sometimes you have to make life-or-death decisions for the well-beings of others."

The other merheroes nodded giving a look of respect similar to the ones demigods showed towards Chiron.

"So yes, we have to decide between Hemera, and Nyx."

I was appalled. How could they even consider joining someone whose main purpose was to turn the world to eternal darkness and take over the world.

I wanted to think that Aphros and Bythos's choices were selfish for only thinking about the fate of their kind, but I also found some truth in their statement. Their duty is to their people and they can't blindly follow whoever they think has the better cause.

The ichthyocentaurs sighed as if they were tired of arguing about this topic, and I suddenly felt bad for them. They must have had a lot of trouble over their decision to consider both options, and I suddenly remembered how curious Bob was towards who I supported. He probably hoped I would convince them to fight for Day.

Bythos finally looked at me again. "You understand what we're saying here, don't you Hank?"

He sounded too emotional for me to correct him about my name.

"Yes sir. But you haven't still chosen who you will fight for, yes?"

Aphros spoke up. "No we haven't officially. But Nyx's forces are extremely powerful. There is almost no doubt at all that she will succeed in her mission of eternal darkness."

Then Bythos cut in. "And she has promised to protect us and leave us be when she goes on to take over and destroy the world."

I raised my eyebrows. "Destroy the world?"

"Not literally. But the world is made up of its people and the fellow life forces that dwell upon it. She will be rid of every single thing that isn't one of her children, or one of her soldiers." said Aphros.

"So you can see why Nyx would be the better choice. But alas, if Day wins, we will have no punishment from her or anyone else for fighting on the wrong side. We will just go back to being ignored, and live our life peacefully at the bottom of the ocean." Bythos finished.

Aphros looked at me carefully. "So, son of Mars, what is your opinion in this matter?"

Tom cleared to his throat. "Just to be clear, your opinion is not valued and does not matter, so don't waste your breath." He smiled as is he was satisfied. "Continue."

I frowned, then proceeded to respectfully tell them they were stupid and obviously support Day.

Then I paused, and actually thought about it. They had a point. But Nyx was evil, they couldn't just let her carry through with her plans and just be glad they were safe from harm. The demigods had a duty to the gods and the good of everyone else, so they had to protect Day with all they had, even if it meant they might lose and feel the wrath of Nyx.

So then I had an idea. "So tell me Bythos, what will become of your camp. You train heroes right?"

"Of course we do. It's our pride and joy. I don't know what we would do if we didn't." Bythos smiled.

"Well what would you do, once Nyx rids the world of all living things?" I asked. "What would you need heroes for, if there was nothing to save? Nothing to fight. What would be the point of a camp for merheroes, if the world didn't need heroes at all?"

The merheroes frowned, as if realizing there would be no reason for fangirls to fall over them anymore. This seemed to be a serious problem.

"And how could the world need heroes, if there was no world anyways. Who would need you at all? You'd be worthless, and the world's heroes would lose their will to do anything, if there was nothing to do."

Aphros had an unreadable expression. I continued.

"What would be your purpose, if there were no heroes to train?"

The merheroes' eyes widened, and Ed looked me in the eye,surprising me with a faint smile. Something told me he was smarter than the rest of them. He had more experience, more wisdom. I nodded and looked back at the two ichthyocentaurs.

"So please, correct me if I'm wrong, but what would be the point of living, if the only things you would ever live to see again was evil and darkness."

Aphros's expression was still very guarded, but Bythos looked like he was about to cry.

I looked at each of the mermen seated at the table. "So although there is no guarantee of success if you join Day's side, there is certainly no guarantee of happiness if Night wins, no matter whose side you fought for. Evil never has a promise of anything good. But good will always — I'm sorry, are you okay sir?"

Bythos was absolutely bawling, and Aphros was trying desperately to calm him down. People were starting to look. Eventually, he resorted to a large shell shaped like a cup, and stuffed it over Bythos's mouth.

Aphros smiled. "Well that'll keep him quiet." He took in my confused expression and answered. "It swallows sound. Don't worry about him."

I nodded cautiously and watched Bythos's shaking head down on the table. The merheroes were whispering among themselves in urgent voices, constantly shooting wide-eyed glances in my direction. For some reason, I didn't feel intimidated anymore.

Someone cleared their throat, and I looked to the front of the table towards Aphros.

"I am glad you were with us today, son of Mars. They say the children of the war god had a tendency to fight for the right side. Not always the winning one, but the right one."

The merheroes were still giving me weird looks and I felt a nudge from my side.

I looked up to Ed's face, which had a proud express on it. I smiled but he gave a low chuckle.

"Better lower it down, kid. You're glowing."

"Hmm?" I finally processed what he meant, and quickly looked down at myself. He was right. I _was_ glowing.

"Aura." I said, but mostly to myself. It had happened before. When I did the son of Mars thing, I glowed red.

"Ed will lead back up to the surface himself, but after the breakfast. You may do as you please until then." Aphros gestured towards the courtyard.

"Go on."

I waved bye as I swam over to the center of the courtyard, not quite sure what to do. I suddenly spotted a glimpse of the familiar short black hair from behind a large block of coral, and found my way over.

"Amaryllis! You won't believe-"

"Shhh!" She urgently put a finger to her lips and gestured towards the scene in front of the coral she was hiding behind. The ichthyocentaurs and the merheroes were seated at the table I was at earlier, and were now once again discussing something heatedly.

I frowned. "You were...there the whole time?"

Amaryllis smiled sneakily. "Oh yes. I eavesdrop on all the secret war councils." She raised her eyebrows. "They're not very secretive."

"Huh." I wondered. Why even bother calling it a 'secret' war council?

"Do any of the other merheroes ever catch you?" I asked, because I was pretty sure everyone except for the council could see us.

Amaryllis snorted. "Please. Everyone does it. There are about ten or fifteen right now who you can't see cause they're hiding. And besides," she flipped her hair over her shoulder, "No one would dare report me."

I raised my eyebrows. Hey, why have people like you when they can fear you instead, right? Well I didn't think that way, but the merheroes certainly seemed too.

"Attention all merheroes!" Aphros's voice commanded. "Gather around, we have some important news to share with you."

Next to me, one of the famous merheroes parted the coral where I was hiding. At first I panicked, wondering if I would be executed (since Amaryllis clearly emphasized their love of executing humans). I scrambled back and looked up into the merhero's face, and found Ed's staring back at me.

He raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner, and nodded towards the large group crowding around the two ichthyocentaurs.

My eyes widened in realization and I swam off to join the rest of the crowd before someone caught me. Then I backtracked to talk to Ed again.

"Hey." I asked. He raised his eyebrows. "Can I ask you something?"

He cleared his throat and stood a little taller, as if expecting me took ask him something meaningful. He was disappointed.

"Why was everyone laughing that time, when I called you all selfish jerks?"

He gave another hearty chuckle, and I must have looked confused, because he stopped. Then he cracked a smile.

"Selfish? Shellfish? You get it?" he smiled eagerly. I frowned. That was stupid.

"It's not funny." I told him.

He waved me off. "I wouldn't expect you to think so. Humans have no sense of humor."

He shrugged and swam off, before I could argue. On the way towards the gathering crowd, I thought over and over about the joke I didn't even realize I told.

"We have a special visitor today, and you may not look down on him because of his unfortunate deficiencies." Aphros continued. _Deficiencies?_

"Yes," Bythos sighed. "He is human."

Multiple long, drawn-out and dramatic gasps were heard from the crowd. I rolled my eyes, but careful not to let anyone see because as I mentioned before, I was scared of them.

"His name is Hank Zhang."

The merpeople in front of me parted so that I could walk up and stand next to Aphros and Bythos. I smiled nervously at everyone, and they responded kindly with vicious glares and deadly snarls.

"He has deeply affected our choice in the war efforts, and we have decided who we will stand for. Hank is the son of the Roman war god, and will be treated with respect."

To my surprise, the mermen and mermaids nodded encouragingly, and put their hand to their forehead in salute.

Aphros smiled next to me leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"Hank, you have yourself an army."

So I don't really know how to explain what I felt I that moment, but it was a little bit of everything.

Proud, overwhelmed, happy, responsible, a little confused, and in desperate need to use the bathroom.

It was at that moment, that I also truly felt invincible. I heard a sound, at first faint and high, soon progressing into a low and deep beat. Like an African band or something decided to take a small visit underwater and and start on the drums. The sound came out of thin air, but no one else seemed to have noticed. Only me.

Just out of instinct, I looked up, and an intensely bright object was slowly making its way towards me. I reached out my head and clasped the thing, which I brought up to my face to examine.

It was a necklace. A small, flimsy looking thing, with a string so thin it was almost invisible and a little red, sun-shaped pendant about the size of a bottle cap.

I looked up suddenly, surprised and shocked by the sudden event, finding the ichthyocentaurs' equally shocked faces. Then Bythos took on a look of pride, and spoke to me in a respectful voice.

"Behold Frank, holder of a talisman of light."

 **Sorry if there were a lot of typos this chapter, my** **computer was slow and I was too impatient to** **let grammarly do its** **thing. Bye!** **:P**


	16. We Have A Pillow Fight To the Death

**HEYA! Soooo... I finally published :)) You guys happy, or you guys happy! Heh, I know you guys were probably plotting my death, but you can relax! The chapter is OUT and ready to be READ :D I hope you enjoy this one, cause I kinda felt everything was a little too serious so I added a little fun to their trip. Plez ENJOY, and review, review, review :P**

 **Hazel**

I don't think I've ever been more stressed out. So first, I woke up to the sound of Tyson rocking the whole boat with his snoring. Being the daughter of Hades, I could sense that death was near for the cyclops who was about to get his butt whooped.

Then, on the way up the stairs, I was nearly trampled upon by a sleepwalking pegasus who clearly couldn't sense my anger because he progressed with his daydream, continuously bumping into me until it finally dawned on him that he was getting nowhere, and opened its eyes to my fuming face.

It nickered fearfully and was quick to get out of my way.

So I guess by now you could tell that I _wasn't_ , a morning person. I don't know if it was because I was the daughter of Hades or all those years spent in the fields of Asphodel, but I just didn't _do_ mornings.

When I finally reached the deck I groaned at the sight of Tyson up and about, making his way up towards a large bell on one of the towers, which Leo put in for I don't know what reason.

Before I actually went up there to murder him, I decided to leave Tyson alone and go back below deck. And that's when I heard it. The _freakin bell._

I stomped my foot in frustration. "Does he _ever_ just _calm down_!"

I covered my mouth, quickly cursing myself. What was up with me today? I was worse than usual. Something wasn't right. I mean….it could have been the dream….

"Uh...Hazel?"

I turned around and watched a sleepy Percy walk, or try to walk, out of his cabin. After stumbling a few times and finally leaning against the wall for balance, he looked at me.

"What's wrong?"

I suddenly remembered my problem.

I took a deep breath.

"What's wrong? _What's wrong?!_ WHAT'S WRONG IS YOUR BROTHER!"

His eyes narrowed. "And what's wrong with Tyson?"

"Oh, you wanna know?" I chuckled darkly. " _Listen._ "

I let out a short puff of air and pointed crossly at the ceiling. We heard the loud, deep chimes of the bell and I felt just about ready to scream. Yup. Mornings were _not_ my thing.

And Percy just _laughed_. Could he not see my distress? Maybe I should murder him too…..

Then Leo and Annabeth exited their cabins. They walked out rubbing their eyes and yawning, so I felt a little bad that I woke them up.

"Are you okay Hazel?" Annabeth looked concerned.

I wanted to slap them upside the heads. _Yes,_ I was _okay_ , it's just that everyone else _wasn't_. With their stupid bells, and stupid snoring...okay so that was basically all Tyson but everyone had something wrong with them. I could _sense_ it. Some would call it teenage drama and overreaction, but I would call it common sense.

"I'm fine." I said coldly. Annabeth considered me thoughtfully, as if trying to diagnose me with something so she could explain my behavior. And then Leo actually _did._

He waved sleepily in my face. "She's a teenager. Mood swings. She just needs a good punishment to put her back in her place."

"Leo!" I said, taken aback by his words. I was _not_ being moody.

Leo smiled cheekily. "And I have just the thing." He snuck back into his room for a minute and came back out with a plumber and box of Lysol.

Leo held them out towards me, and dropped them at my feet. He grinned and gestured down the hallway. "Enjoy!"

Before I could shove them up his nose, another voice was heard from one of the cabins. "We all know you're just too lazy to do it yourself, Leo!"

Leo frowned. "And how do you know what I asked her to do Piper?"

We all heard Piper's groan. "You've been trying to get everyone to do it since this trip started. And frankly, I don't think the girl's bathroom needs cleaning. It's you _boys_ that make all the mess."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "She's right you know."

Leo pouted. He held up a sign that he made all of us paint a few days ago so that when the years passed on and we were all dead, Leo's 'legacy', which is what he called it, would never 'cease to exist'.

"What happened to 'Long Live captain of The _Argo II_ '?"

Jason, who must have woken up because of the noise, swiftly walked out his room, grabbed the poster, and ripped it in half. He shrugged at Leo's horrified expression. "Too late." he pointed at the two uneven pieces on the floor. "It's already dead."

He walked back into his room and shut the door.

Leo put his hand on his heart and fell to his knees, as if having a heart attack. I rolled my eyes, and Annabeth snickered. Percy had fallen asleep while standing.

"You _monster_." Leo said, his eyes wide.

I heard a crash, bang and the thud of feet against the ship floor. Or should I say, _hooves_.

Coach Hedge burst out of his cabin in his boxers, bleary-eyed and gripping a thin pillow like it was his baseball bat.

"MONSTER. WHERE."

He whipped his head around wildly, searching in vain for his 'monster', which if you think about it, was Jason.

Leo pointed stiffly at Jason's cabin. "There, my loyal henchman. But beware. The danger that lies ahead is the cruelest thing you have ever faced."

"Oh shut up Leo!" we heard Jason yell.

"Don't _you_ talk now. Team Leo will _avenge_ me!" Leo stood up tall and pointed at the ceiling. " _Charge!_ "

Nobody moved. Except for Coach Hedge. Being half-asleep, he 'charged' the wrong cabin, screaming "ALUMINUM FOIL" as he burst through Jace's and Illiana's door.

At first, I was pretty concerned for the two, before I remembered Coach Hedge's choice of weapons.

I heard a shrill scream and covered my mouth trying to hide a laugh, as Jace stumbled out covered in pillow fluff.

"Who let the goat man in!" demanded Jace.

Coach Hedge walked out of the cabin too. "Where's my baseball bat?"

"You were gonna use a _baseball bat?"_ Jace asked, furious.

"Well you don't think I like to fight my enemies with pillows, do you kid?" Coach Hedge threw his hands up in the air.

Percy yawned once more. "Highly likely, if we fight monsters at this time in the morning."

"GO TO SLEEP! It's 4:30!" Piper yelled at us from her room.

Percy put his hands up. "I woke up because of Hazel."

I frowned and scoffed. "Well it isn't my fault-"

"And I woke up because of both of them." Annabeth added.

"Well I woke up because _Leo_ , who was rambling on about his legacy." Jason strolled out of his room.

Leo shrugged, a small smirk on his face. "I still blame those two." he said, pointing at me and Percy.

I crossed my arms. "Hey-"

"The boy who cried monster. That punk woke me up." Coach Hedge grumbled.

"Huh." I let out a puff of air, satisfied. "Well _that_ , was all Leo." I pointed towards him.

Leo put his hands up in the air. "Team vote!" he grinned.

"No Leo, we're not voting on who woke up who." Jason said warily.

"Why not?" I asked. "It's the only civil way to decide."

"But why do we need to decide?" asked Jace.

I scowled. "Because...it just-"

"I know!" Percy snapped his fingers. "Whoever woke up more people has to have a punishment?"

Annabeth shook her head, exasperated. "Does it matter anymore? We're all up now, and it's really not that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal? Whoever ruined my beauty sleep will pay!" Coach Hedge demanded.

Jason rolled his eyes. "You're beauty sleep, Coach?"

Leo sighed. "Well _duh_! These beautiful shiny horns don't just come naturally!"

Coach Hedge narrowed his eyes at Leo. "My beauty sleep isn't for my horns, _Valdez._ How you cupcakes gonna defeat anything if your best fighter isn't on his game!" Coach Hedge buffed his chest proudly, and we all covered our smiles.

Piper stormed out of her room and pulled at her hair. "Does no one on this stupid boat sleep?!"

"We can't exactly do that now, since Hazel woke us all up. ADHD. We couldn't go back if we tried." Percy explained.

"Me? It was your brother's snoring!" I retorted.

"Guys, will you stop fighting? I said it doesn't matter anymore!" Annabeth said with a frustrated sigh.

"Yeah, but we should be getting as much sleep as we can! We're going to fight Night soon, and we'll be half asleep when we do." Jason said.

"Only if you guys keep yelling!" Piper yelled.

Jace looked perplexed. "Well, you yelled too."

"Everyone yelled!" Percy said.

"But why, again?" Jace asked.

"BECAUSE HAZEL WOKE US UP!" Everyone screamed.

"I did _not_!" I replied angrily.

"Face it cupcake, you're a disruption and distraction to this ship!" Coach Hedge shouted.

"That's a little harsh." Jason said.

"If you really think about it, we're all a disruption to this ship!" Piper yelled. " _Especially_ Percy!"

"Me?!" Percy asked, in shock

"Oh don't be a baby!" Annabeth scolded him. "Why can't we just let this go and stop yelling!"

"You're yelling!" Percy yelled.

"So are you!" I yelled.

Then Jason's eyes narrowed. "Where's Leo?"

At that second, Leo burst out of his cabin with a bucketful of pillows.

"PILLOW FIGHT!" he screamed.

I immediately picked a small one with beads threaded into the surface, and chucked it at Leo's head.

"Shut up!" I said.

Then I shrieked as a big fluffy one hit me in the stomach. I picked it back up, throwing it at nothing in particular, but I heard a satisfying 'oof'.

In a few moments, the hall was filled with flying tufts of pillow fluff, everyone covered in white from head to toe. The fluff was scattered over every inch of floor in sight, and Leo kept coming back with more pillows from every cabin. We were going to need a serious supply restock of that.

I laughed as one of my pillows hit Leo on his way into my cabin, flattening him against the floor. He scrambled in vain around the floor for another pillow, and when he found one, he tried his best to throw it at me.

Instead, it hit a fuming Piper who turned around and whacked Annabeth upside the head with another pillow.

Piper's eyes widened. "Oh Annabeth, I'm sorry. I thought you-"

Piper was immediately silenced as Annabeth mercilessly stuffed a handful of pillow fluff into Piper's mouth.

For the next few minutes, Piper was bending over her stomach, coughing out and gagging on pillow fluff. All of us were laughing our heads off, until Coach Hedge joined in.

He gave a war cry that sounded something like….cupcakes, maybe?

In thirty seconds we were all down on the floor, buried in mountains of pillows. And in the next minute, we had all teamed up on Coach who had resorted to hiding out in his cabin.

Then _Jace_ came.

We were all gripping a pillow, breathing hard. I looked down the hall, and saw Jace cautiously standing next to a pile of pillows.

"One," I muttered.

They all nodded, knowing what I meant. "Two…"

Then I grinned evilly. "Three."

We all screamed like banshees and hurled our pillows as hard as we could towards Jace.

My pillow landed a few feet in front of Jace, and he backstepped. Piper's landed right next to mine, so we were out.

Leo did that arm thing, where he swang it in huge circles and then threw the pillow, like a baseball pitcher. It kinda backfired on him and ended up going behind him.

"SCORE!" Leo hollered, smiling crazily. Piper snorted and I smacked my forehead.

Percy's pillow missed Jace's head by a couple inches, and Jason's pillow was definitely going to hit his stomach but Jace scampered out of the way. He looked absolutely terrified, and for a moment I felt bad for him.

Then in one huge, _flowing_ movement he swept up all the pillows and threw them down the hall with such great aim and power, that hit all of us precisely on our nose and we were all down in mere seconds.

Jace looked surprised at first, and then horrified. "Oh no. Are you ok? You're not...you're not dead, are you?" He looked at us desperately, and I sat up and rolled my eyes.

"We were hit by fluffy pillows. Yes, we're dead." I droned sarcastically.

He raised his eyebrows. "Well you gotta admit, I threw them pretty well."

I simply walked up to him, and smacked him in the stomach with a pillow. He doubled over, clutching his stomach. I gave a satisfied 'hmph' and turned around, walking straight into a massacre.

The pillow war had started up again, but for some reason, now there were eggs involved. Leo was covered in raw egg and the yolk was sticky in his hair. Piper laughed at him, and Leo gave an evil grin, advancing on her, as if to smother her with egg. _Yuck_.

Piper shrieked and ran into Jason, who whipped around suddenly and hit her on the head with a pillow.

Jason snickered and Percy silenced him with a whack from behind the head.

He rubbed his neck frustratingly. "What the-"

Percy once again smacked him with a pillow, to the face this time, and ran off down the hallway in shrieks of laughter, Jason right behind him. Jason chucked the pillow at his head, and Percy lost his balance, falling face-flat on the ground.

I laughed, watching this, but I suddenly felt a blow to the head. Leo had thrown five large pillows at once at me, and buried under the pile of softness, I couldn't see a thing. Based on where I last saw him, I picked up a pillow lying beside my hand and threw it into the air, wondering where it would hit.

When I found my way out of the pile I looked up to see where my pillow was, just to once again get buried in another pile.

I groaned, and scampered over to the wall, shielding my face with my arms. Then my eyes narrowed. Where was Leo?

"FOOD FIGHT!"

 **So how was that! I know it was extremely short, and I am really sorry about that, but lately, it seems my time to write just keeps getting less and less. I guess I am getting a little bit of writer's block, mostly cause I make up the story as I go along, and it would SERIOUSLY help if you guys could review! Suggestions, feedback, positive or negative, LITERALLY ANYTHING. The haters only help ;) Just know I may be taking a while to publish, but I promise that I'll NEVER abandon the story. Like, ever. Just the truth. REVIEW. Love ya'll bye :P (REVIEW)**


	17. I Sing For My Unqualified Kidnapper

**:( I know, I absolutely suck at publishing fast, but I can TOTALLY assure you the next one is coming out soon:)) Please don't lose faith in the story, and to give me motivation to keep writing with a few more reviews! Enjoy ;)**

 **Leo**

I cackled evilly. "FOOD FIGHT!"

Everyone looked up in surprise, and Hazel poked her head out of her pile.

"I have reinforcements! Prepare to get _creamed._ "

I grabbed a can of whipped cream from a large box of food I found, and sprayed it in Percy's unexpecting face. Percy growled.

"Oh you're _on_ repair boy."

And once again, the hall was full of noise, screams, and _food_. No one seemed to care about the fact that we might have been making an eensy weensy mess, but, oh well!

I snickered as a soggy club sandwich hit Piper's face and she shrieked in protest. Hazel was running around with her hands over her head, trying to avoid the flying bits of food.

Jace was really getting into it, and dumped an entire bowl of mac and cheese on Percy's head. Percy smiled, and raised his hands, as if lifting some invisible weight into the air. For a moment, all was quiet, everyone watching Percy intently, bracing themselves for what they knew was coming.

Then a loud _swoosh_ singled his oncoming disaster and everyone ran for cover as a large wave of water flooded the hallway.

When all cleared, everyone was gasping on the floor, soaking wet, and something was biting Jace's leg. He yelped in surprise and ran up and down the hallway, trying to shake the mysterious creature off.

"Hey!" I gave Percy a mock serious look. "That's illegal. No flooding of ships will be tolerated! I shall have to report you, sir!"

"Oh shut it Valdez."

I looked up to the stairs and Calypso walked down, Annabeth right behind her. "Half the reason I'm up on the deck every morning is because of _you_ , and all the racket _you_ make."

I sighed, and turned to Percy. "You're free to go. Stupidity isn't a crime."

Percy blinked, then frowned. "Hey!"

Annabeth walked up to Percy and ruffled his hair. "You're lucky it isn't." Percy bent down to kiss her, but she pushed his nose away with the tip of her finger. "Brush your teeth first, and then we'll talk."

That sent him running to his room.

"Hey sunshine! Not a morning person?" I called out to Calypso.

She gave me a rare smile. "Hey _sunshine_. Maybe you should check the damages of that little tsunami _fish boy_ caused, or we might not see sunshine again."

I stood there for a moment, first appreciating the cleverness if her comment, then contemplating what she said. In a moment, my eyes widened, and I shrieked, sprinting up the stairs to check my precious deck.

But what I found waiting for me surprised me even more.

A dreary looking Frank staggered towards me.

I raised my eyebrows. "Uh, hey man? You doin' alright?"

He frowned, and gestured towards his soaked clothes and tired expression. " Yes. I'm absolutely _fine._ "

I smiled. "Huh. Thought so, you look great dude. Hey, did you do something new with your hair?"

I gestured towards the cowlick at the back of his hair the water had created. He snarled at me and furiously messed up his hair.

Then I realized something.

"Hey." I said. Frank looked at me. "When did you get up here?"

He shrugged, and sat back down. "Bout' five seconds ago. The waves spit me out." he said simply.

I stroked my imaginary beard. "Judging from how wet you are…..and how Calypso didn't see you here earlier….and you said the waves spit you out….I've concluded….." Then I gasped.

"You were in the water!"

He slow-clapped for me. "Congrats genius. You're officially an idiot."

I grinned, and bowed dramatically. "I try."

He groaned. "Just call the others up."

I frowned. "Why? You don't think I have the muscles to carry you to safety?" I gave him a questioning eyebrow. I lifted up my arm and attempted to flex it."I will save you! My damsel in distre-"

Someone's hand clamped over my mouth. I squealed in surprise, an odd sound that seemed to amuse Frank.

Frank giggled sleepily. "Hey Leoooooo. You look like a...like a…", he tried to hold back a laugh, " a BEACH BALL!" He burst into laughter, rolling in a fit of giggles. "Cause, cause," he couldn't stop laughing, "your round and… and your in rainbow colors!"

I stopped struggling, and just stared at him. I was highly offended. A _beach ball_? I wasn't as nearly as puncturable as a _beach ball_. And on a completely unimportant note, what was wrong with Frank?

I turned my attention back to the mystery figure who still had his hand over my mouth and nose, as if trying to prevent me from breathing or something. But the weird thing was, that Frank hadn't noticed him behind me until he covered my mouth..

I tried to yank my body out of his grasp, but he held tight.

I heard Frank giggle again, and turned to watch him. He was swatting at the air in front his nose, as if something smelt bad, and with one last cackle he collapsed.

I sucked in a breath. "Yikes." I said. Then the figured clamped my mouth again.

I tried to turn to look at who was holding me captive, but all I could see was the black gloved- hand over my mouth. I could feel his breath on my neck, and strained to move it away.

I finally just slumped in his grasp, and waited for him to go ahead and kidnap me. And then I waited. I wonder where he would take me? I waited a little more. Would the crew be able to find me? Then I waited some more.

And _that's_ when I realized that something wasn't right. We were just standing there, in the middle of the deck, doing nothing. Huh. This kidnapper wasn't very good at kidnapping.

So we kinda just stood there, and absentmindedly tapped my foot against the deck. Whoever was holding on to me seemed to be waiting for something.

My head had an odd pulse, and was throbbing. It wasn't a headache, but the kind of feeling you get when your heart is beating really loud and fast, except it's was in my head.

The sensation irritated me, and my ADHD was starting to kick up again. I couldn't stand still for this long. I started tapping my foot against the deck, and started thinking of the screws and nails in my tool belt that I could somehow use to get away from whoever had me.

My hand were still being held, so that wasn't really an option. And that's when I noticed something slightly disturbing. My feet. They were tapping rapidly against the deck. But hey weren't making a sound.

I looked down, and would have shrieked if my captor's hands weren't clamped over my mouth. The floor was _gone_. And everything else below that too. It was pitch black when I looked down.

I looked at the rails of the boat, which were fading fast, disappearing into the night. _The night._ It was around 6:00 in the morning. It shouldn't be this dark.

Day and Night we're fighting again. And it looked like Night was winning.

I tried to look up, stretching to the maximum my kidnapper would let my head move. The sky was all tinged black.

My head was still pounding, a little more intense now. The changes were happening faster.

The boat had completely vanished, and although I knew it was still out there somewhere, it carved a little whole in my heart. I missed the safety of my ship. Where the heck was I?

Everything was gone now, and I might as well have thought I was in space. I would have, but the emptiness was missing the magnificent colorful bodies of mass, the blinding light of the sun, the twinkling of the stars. No, I was somewhere else.

I tried to nudge my kidnapper from where he was standing behind me. He let out a grunt and twisted my wrists, as if warning.

I winced, and let out a frustrated sigh. "Not much of a talker, are you?" I tried to say, but with his hands still over my mouth, it sounded like "Mo haha uh mama hm oo?"

He didn't make any effort to reply, so I gave up on him and started wondering about the crew. Did they know where I was? Were they wondering? Did they even know I was gone at all?

I wondered if they found Frank yet, but I doubted he would be of much help in the state he was in.

They could never find me here.

My captor gave me a rough shove, and I fell to my knees. He had let go of my mouth, but my wrists were still bound. By what, I didn't know, because it don't feel solid. It felt like nothing, really, except for a little coldish tingle.

Everything was pitch black, and for a moment, I wondered if this was what it felt like for blind people. Or did they see white? But how would they know, if they didn't know what colors where? But if they weren't blind at birth….

 _Stop_ , I told myself. _You have to get out of here._ I could think about blind people later.

Suddenly, the mysterious figure grabbed my legs, lifted them up, and started dragging me. I raised my eyebrows at him.

From my position, his back was turned, but I could see that I was wearing a long, black hooded cloak, and a black glove was holding my feet.

"That isn't very polite." I was trying to get his attention, but he just continued dragging my feet. I frowned.

"Are you sure you qualified to be a kidnapper?"

This seemed to disrupt him. He paused for a moment, but then continued walking. To Zues knows where, I thought. Was there a particular destination in this endless darkness?

I noticed he kept on making turns too, as if rounding the corners of invisible walls, that only he could see.

I was extremely bored. I suddenly remembered an old song they used to sing at one of the foster homes I was in, and decided I had nothing better to do.

So I started humming the tune of _Old Mc'Donald Had A Farm_. Yes, I was _that_ bored.

When I got no reaction to that, I turned to another childhood song I knew, but I couldn't quite remember it's name.

 _Do your ears hang low,_

 _Do they wobble to the floor,_

 _Can you tie them in a knot,_

 _Can you tie them in a bow,_

I droned on, singing with a monotone voice that mirrored my boredness.

The hooded figure coughed a few times, as if he was choking, then cleared his throat and walked on.

I narrowed my eyes, and looked at his back.

"Hey," I prodded, "Could you not judge my singing?"

The figure straightened his back and ignored me.

I sniffed defiantly and then thought of another song.

I cleared my throat very obviously, and started to sing _The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round._

I sounded like a frog with a sore throat, a dying horse and a cursed trumpet all in one. But I didn't care. I was singing of my sorrow, with passion.

Well, _my_ version of passion.

I heard the hooded figure groan in frustration, and I modified the words a little, just for him.

I tried to point at him. "This is for you, Silent Fart."

About the nickname, yes, I know, totally perfect. He never said a word to me, hence the _Silent_ , and I didn't really feel like calling him _Silent Party-Pooper,_ cause that's what he was, so I went with Silent Fart.

The figure flinched at the name, as if recoiling, and just sighed and kept walking.

Then, in my loudest, most obnoxious voice, I began to sing my new version of _The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round._

I smiled mischievously.

 _My butt in the ground slides on and on,_

 _On and on,_

 _On and on,_

 _My butt on the ground slides on and on,_

 _All….NIGHT long!_

 _The henchman holding my feet pulls on and on,_

 _It's really annoying,_

 _On and on,_

 _Watch out because Team Leo is coming for you,_

 _Run, run, RUN!_

I took a deep breath to start my next verse, before the figure dropped my legs and whipped around to face me.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!" He was fuming mad.

I looked at him.

"No."

 **So, how'd you like that :D Tell me in the reviews guys, I love ANY feedback possible :) Stay tuned to the story 3**


	18. Now We All Have Unqualified Kidnappers!

_**HA!**_ **Told you guys I was gonna publish another one soon! Guess you didn't expect it on the same day though, huh? I love surprising you guys :) Anyways, please review and enjoy the chapter 3**

 **Jason**

 _What in Hades was going on?_

One moment we were all on the ship, getting ready in our rooms for the morning, and the next, we were _here._

Where _here_ was I didn't know, but I certainly didn't like it.

I was just standing in the hallway when suddenly someone grabbed my wrists behind my back and covered my mouth. My first instinct was the weather. I willed a lighting bolt to strike straight down on whoever was holding me. I was waiting to make a run for it and warn my friends, but it didn't come.

My powers weren't working. Was something wrong with me? But then my thoughts turned to something more frightening. The boat was disappearing. And all that was replacing it, was darkness.

I looked down and my eyes widened as I stared at the darkness beneath my feet, and it looked like I was standing on nothing.

Actually, now everything around me was like that. My head turned frantically, trying to understand my new surroundings. The stranger's hand around my mouth kept my head still, and I strained my neck to catch a glimpse of anyone else who might have been there with me.

My first thoughts went to Piper. _Where was she?_

Was I the only one here? I wondered if everyone was still back on the ship, or if they knew I was gone at all.

There was an eerie feeling about all this, and an emptiness was wallowing up inside of me. My calves and wrists were bound, I realized, as I was dropped to the floor.

I squinted, and made an attempt to escape. I was going to fly out of here. Wherever _here_ was.

I closed my eyes, and I could feel myself being lifted into the air. There was no more solid ground beneath me.

With an eager breath, I opened my eyes and was met with disappointment. I was still on the ground. Actually, I couldn't really tell. Everything, up, down, right, left, all pitch black. No floor, no ceiling. Just darkness. I swallowed, and attempted to look brave.

I looked up, and yelped when the figure picked up my feet and I fell backward. To my surprise, he began to drag me. I closed my eyes tight and tried to control the weather again. I pictured a raging thunderstorm in my head, and willed it to happen on this dark enemy.

My eyes widened. It wasn't working. But now I knew there was something beneath me, since I was being dragged, and I tried to fly again. It also wasn't working.

I was starting to panic. What would I do know? I needed to get back to the crew. I needed to find a way out of here. And I needed to do it fast.

 **Piper**

It wasn't working. My charm speak wasn't working. And I wasn't taking it well.

I screamed hysterically as the dark figure standing in my room, scooped me up and my brain momentarily blanked out. When I opened my eyes again the ship had started to fade, little by little.

Everything was disappearing, slowly being swallowed by the darkness.

So let me go by what happened. I had snuck back into my room before the start of what sounded like a massacre, and began to pick little pieces of fluff and lettuce from my hair.

I was covered in the stuff, from head to toe, and was extremely displeased to find some feathers still in my mouth and mayo in my hair.

I heard a light sound behind me, and halted. It sounded like a footstep. I spun around, hand at my waist for my depressing dagger. There was a tall dark figure standing in the doorway.

I felt around my hips, before switching my eyes to the drawer across the room where my dagger lay. I cursed, and looked straight at the figure.

My eyes lit up proudly. "Stay. Don't _move._ "

When the cloaked figure made no attempt come towards me, and smiled at rubbed my hands together.

But I stiffened, for he had suddenly taken a step towards me. I stilled, breathing hard.

"Don't take another step," I warned, putting all the charm I had into the sentence. And the strange part was, I didn't get the powerful feeling in my voice I usually felt when I was talking. As if my charm-speak wasn't working.

Startled, I realized my charm-speak _wasn't_ working, as the figure began to walk across the room to me. I shrieked.

As the figure scooped me up I shot off a string of curses at him, but he just cleared his throat.

"Let me go! Stop! Don't touch me! Get off! Help! Someone! Jason!" But my repeated calls were hopeless. Was this how normal people felt when they talked? Because my charm-speak seemed to be in ' _off_ ' mode, and my brain couldn't find the 'on' button.

Charm-speak was literally my only skill, other than looking pretty. How helpful. I groaned, because the figure was ignoring me, and even if I escaped where would I go?

My surroundings were now pitch black, and the dark figure was walking somewhere with me in his arms. My arms and legs were bound, though I had no idea when that happened, and I couldn't really figure out what they were bound by.

All I could hope for was that someone had heard my cries for help before I came to this place, and they would come to investigate.

The invisible ties around my ankles and wrists were tight and strangling, and I didn't really appreciate being carried around in dark places by strangers.

And the strange thing was, even though I couldn't see anything but black, the hooded figure seemed to be going somewhere, rounding dark corners, turning down invisible corridors.

I couldn't see these walls and pathways, but I could tell that my captor could. I tried struggling to get out of his arms, but he held on tight, not willing to let me escape. I groaned crossly and could only hope the same wasn't happening to my friends.

 **Annabeth**

I was having a mental breakdown.

I knew the answers. I always have. I always came up with a plan to save everyone. That's how it works.

But for once in my life, I was rendered useless. Helpless, unable to do anything, unable to reach out to my friends, and the most concerning, unable to think.

I tried, but every time I tried to think of a way to escape, a plan to fight, a myth that might have justified what was happening, my mind turned blank. All I could see was black, pitch black, and my mind was empty.

I could barely even have these simple thoughts, of why my mind wasn't working, and where everyone else was. I even tried doing a simple math problem, but my brain wasn't willing to cooperate. What's 1+1? I don't know! Ask some other kindergartener. I'm sure they'll tell you.

I felt hopeless, unable to think, only able to feel. And all I felt right now were uselessness and sadness. They weren't really helping.

I felt dumb. I couldn't even speak. That required using my brain too. What was happening to me?

All I could register was that everything had disappeared, and now I couldn't move. Something was carrying me. That was all.

I tried to look up to see who, but a dark hood was covering most of the person's face. Even then, all I could see was darkness under its hood.

I tried to remember how I got here, what I was doing before, but I just couldn't. Every time I got a glimpse of something in my brain, the darkness washed it out.

My mind could only speak one word.

 _Percy_.

 **Percy**

I was brushing my teeth. _I was brushing my teeth._

My mouth was full of toothpaste, and I leaned over the sink to spit out. Just then, I felt a cool breeze shiver my spine. I narrowed my eyes. We were inside.

I whipped around, and on instinct held out my weapon towards the dark hooded figure in my bathroom. I the figure brought up his gloved hand to his mouth as if to hide a laugh.

My weapon was a toothbrush. Then I just groaned.

"Weally man? I'm bwusin ma teet!" I gave him a cross look. "Cat you jus wait till I'm duh to fight me?"

He tilted his head at me. I rolled my eyes and made a shooing gesture. "Leave." I said firmly, not in the mood to get out my sword now. I still needed to use the bathroom too.

The figure stared at me for a second, before he took a threatening step towards me. I pointed at the toilet, and willed the water to rise and soak his cloak.

But nothing happened. I gave a nervous laugh. Then once again I put on my serious face, and will the toilet water to do its business. I raised my eyebrows, looking at the toilet, and mentally gave it a lecture. Then I made a run for it.

I tried to dash out the bathroom door, toothbrush still in hand, but the dark figure swiftly walked in front of me, and put out its hand. I looked at my toothbrush. Did he want it or something?

But then he snapped his fingers, and I blacked out.

I awoke again, but somewhere else. Where exactly, I'm not sure, but I wasn't on the _Argo II_ anymore.

My wrists and legs were bound, by something that I couldn't see. Although it gave me the same feeling I got when the dark figure was in my bathroom.

I turned my head around wildly, searching for the person who did this to me. My eyes found a figure in the darkness, and I squinted, only now realizing it was him. With his dark cloak, he blended in so well with the darkness. As if he were a part of it himself.

I tried to get up and lunge at him, but the bounds limited my movement. The hooded figure still stepped back uneasily. I raised my eyebrow as at his behavior. Then I smiled. Was he afraid of me?

I quickly jerked towards him, still knowing full well it would get me nowhere. But the figure still flinched.

I relished in the fact that I scared him for some reason, but I didn't think it would do me any good.

The best that could happen is he would run away screaming and I would be left alone in the dark here, forever.

So I guess scaring the kidnapper wasn't an option. I was too preoccupied with my plans of escaping, that I didn't realize we had started moving. Then I narrowed my eyes. _Was he dragging me by my feet_?

 _Hmph._ How rude. Then, as if someone had just flicked my brain, I remembered that my powers hadn't worked back at the bathroom on the ship. I frowned. As soon as the dark-cloaked figure has shown up, my powers were useless.

I tried bending my fingers to feel around my wrists, for the bonds that tied them together, but I could feel nothing. Actually, it felt as if there was nothing on my wrists at all. But when I pulled them apart, my wrists were still stuck, and I could feel something tied around them.

I strained against the bonds and pulled and pulled, but it only made my wrists hurt more. I let out a deep breath, and just let myself go limp, wondering where this figure would take me now. But he seemed to be dragging me in different directions. He repeatedly made turns around invisible corners, and walked through hallways I couldn't see.

This place was definitely weird, and I couldn't quite think of why.

Then I suddenly thought of something and smacked my forehead. Or at least I attempted too. As soon as I tried to complete that motion, my wrists, jerked by the movement, slid out from under me and flipped my body onto my stomach. I winced in pain, for now my face was dragging on the floor.

I tried to right myself again, but couldn't, so I gulped.

"Hey uh, creepy kidnapper?"

The figure froze, then turned around and tilted his head at me. I was straining my neck to look at him from my position on the floor, or whatever you would call this surface below me.

"I'm kinda in a rough situation here, do you think you could help me out?"

At first I almost lost hope, because it took him awhile to realize what I was talking about, and he was also trembling badly.

But then he walked over to me and crouched down, then gave me a little push so that I flipped over onto my back. I sighed, and looked at the figure who was already picking up my feet again.

"Hey, thanks." I told him, waiting for a reaction.

But he simply just dragged me on, not caring about me or my problems anymore. Then I went back to my thoughts from earlier.

 _Night._ She was our only enemy at the moment, and had a _lot_ of children for co-enemies. And she could definitely find some evil henchmen to give us even more enemies. This kidnapping was Night's doing. The question was, who was this mysterious hooded figure, and where was he taking me?

Then I gasped but quickly shut my mouth. When I was sure the figure hadn't heard me, I tried to reach my fingers into my pocket. _Riptide_. Why hadn't I thought of it before? Surely my sword could cut through the bonds?

When my fingers found the pen in my pocket, I almost yelped in excitement, but I restrained myself from doing so before the figure heard me.

Carefully, I uncapped the lid from my pen but clenched my teeth as the pen expanding into a sword made a slight, _zing_.

I froze, and watched the back of the figure very cautiously, but he didn't seem to have heard. I raised my eyebrows and decided it was because of the cloak, which must have muffled some sound for him.

I carefully reached my sword under me, and lifted my back so that I could cut off the bonds around my wrists. I was about to saw through them, when I stopped. Earlier when I had tried to feel the bonds with my fingers I had felt nothing. What if it was the same with my sword, and would accidentally begin to saw through my wrists? I guess that was one way to get out of being tied up, but I really didn't feel like losing any hands today.

I pressed the flat of my blade against my wrists to make sure my sword came in contact with the bonds, and all I know is the sword didn't touch skin. I grinned and quickly cut off the bonds, which sliced like butter. I frowned as I set down my back again, thinking Night should have come up with some better defenses if she wanted to kidnap war-winning heroes.

.

I sighed in pleasure when my back was on the floor again, for I felt I had been doing some intense ab workout while I was lifting my back for over a minute, while simultaneously being dragged by my feet.

I reached my hands out, enjoying the feeling of stretching them after being tied up for awhile. I attempted to sit up, but immediately lost my balance because of being dragged and fell on to my back again.

This time, when I sat up, I leaned forward onto my legs so that I wouldn't fall again. I gritted my teeth and tried to not to make any movement or sound, because the hooded figure that was dragging me by my feet was less than an inch away from me. Careful not to let him notice me, I brought my sword up next to me, and quickly sliced off the bonds around my legs.

As soon as I had done so, that my legs fell apart, and the kidnapper lost grip on my feet.

He whipped around violently, and I shot up. I regretted that movement for my feet seemed to have forgotten how to stand, and I collapsed again.

The mysterious figure held his hand over his mouth, as if to suppress a chuckle. I rolled my eyes, and got up onto my feet more carefully this time. I expertly positioned _Riptide_ in my hand, and waited for the figure to make a move, but he didn't look like he was going anywhere. Absolutely frozen.

I tilted my head at him. "You there?" I asked, somehow thinking he had left or something. I took a step towards him, and he flinched.

I grinned. "Say goodbye."

I lunged for the figure and tried to slash through its middle, but he scampered out of the way like a terrified mouse. It looked like I hit something though, because the figure immediately clutched his shoulder and collapsed in the next few seconds.

I shrugged "That works too."

I crouched down beside the figure and carefully removed its hood. I gasped.

 **So, how'd you like that one :D Say whatever you feel in the reviews, I would totally love some more so please, COMMENT AWAY! Also I won't be publishing for a while again, so enjoy this one :) Love ya'll bye ;)**


	19. Our World Turns Upside-Down

**Hey guys! IT's FINALLY SUMMER :D If you are excited and as happy as I am, read this chapter and comment, favorite and follow :)) at least comment. But now that is IS summer I will get to publish just a little more often, so enjoy this chapter and the rest to come ;) love you guys, keep reading!**

 **Jace**

I paced up and down the hall, cursing. What was I going to do now?

A few minutes earlier, all at once I had heard a chorus of yells and screams, loud voices, thuds and cries for help. I burst out of my room and checked every single cabin. _Empty_.

I sprinted up the stairs and scanned the deck. _Empty_.

I ran into the boy's bathroom and peeked into the girls'. _Empty_

And now I was walking up and down the hallway, working my brain furiously and wondering where in the world everyone could have disappeared to so fast.

Honestly, I probably haven't even checked the whole ship because I didn't really know my way around, but if anyone was still here I would have found someone by now.

I cursed once again and just leaned against the wall. We were all alone, and we had no clue what to do.

I looked up suddenly. _Illiana. She_ could help.

I rushed back into our cabin, already confident she would be able to help figure this out.

I faltered in my step when I saw Illiana. She looked so calm and peaceful in her sleep and I really didn't want to wake her, but this was an emergency and it couldn't wait.

I tapped her lightly on the shoulder but she didn't budge. I brought my head down to her ear and whispered, "Illiana wake up, we have an emergency." She still didn't move.

I frowned and shook her shoulder, talking louder now. "Illiana c'mon get up. You gotta get up." She still didn't show any signs of waking up.

I narrowed my eyes at her. What a stubborn sleeper.

"ILLIANA!" I was yelling now. "Get OUT of bed RIGHT NOW! Everyone is MISSING and now WE have to figure something out!"

Illiana stirred for a moment and my eyes widened in hope, but then she just settled deeper into her blankets.

I groaned in frustration. "I swear to the GODS this girl will be the death of me."

I glared at Illiana, trying to pierce her deep sleep with my stare. I blew out a puff of air and plopped down onto the ground when it didn't look like it was going to work.

 _How the heck do you wake up the daughter of Poseidon?_

Then something clicked in my brain, and although it didn't seem very smart now that I think about it, it sounded really genius in my head at the time.

I ran up to the deck and scoured the place for a bucket of some kind.

"Yes!" I said to myself when I found a big pail by the side of the ship. I picked it up and found a pile of rope next to it. I tied it to the handle and lowered it down into the ocean to fill it up with water. Once it dipped under the surface I hauled it back over the side of the ship, careful not let any spill.

Just as I was untying the rope from the pail, the rope slipped out of my hands and feel into the ocean. I shrugged as I watched it float away in the waves, and adjusted my grip on my pail as I proceeded towards the stairs.

With my full pail and my brilliant plan, I walked down to my cabin at the end of the hall.

I grinned evilly at the girl fast asleep in her bed, about to get drenched _._ There _no way_ she could still be asleep after this.

"Have fun."

And then I tipped over the pail and watched the water rush out and soak Illiana.

"GAHH!"

I hid my smile at her desperate scream as she scrambled in the blankets and shot up, wet hair sprawled across her face.

At first she just stared ahead in shock, still paralyzed by the feeling of the icy ocean water that had just been poured all over her, but slowly she turned her head towards me, a deathly glare upon her face.

I put my pail on the floor and slowly backed away, my arms up in a surrendering gesture. Illiana was breathing hard.

"I, am going to _kill_ you."

I stood there for a second before I realized Illiana was fully capable at following through with the threat and bolted out the door. I heard the thud of feet against the floor behind me and I knew Illiana was on my tail. I cursed. What kind of genius pours ocean water on girls when they sleep?

I skidded around a random corner, sprinted down a random hallway and sped through a random door. I was in the mess hall.

My first thought was that I forgot to check this place earlier when I was looking for the crew, but since it seemed like it was empty I ran across the room and then turned towards the door I had come through, looking for a sign of Illiana. I sighed in relief, believing I had lost her.

I turned my back towards the door, then jumped when I saw the walls. I looked closer and remembered how they portrayed pictures of the kids and some place they hadn't told us about yet. I stared at them in wonder.

I never asked what they were pictures of, but I smiled whenever I saw those same kids over and over again, all together in the pictures. They seemed like a family themselves. They were such a tight group, and I couldn't help but feel a little lonely when they were all around. Illiana and I weren't part of this big family. We just fell out of the sky and now they can't get rid of us. I wonder if that's how they thought of it. They just can't get rid of us. They're only taking us in because there's no way they can say no. We're in the middle of the ocean, after all, it's not like they could just toss us out. Were we just a burden to them?

I was so lost in my surprisingly depressing thoughts I didn't notice someone was behind me until I heard angry war cry and felt someone jump on to my back.

Caught off guard, a stumbled for a few seconds and regained my balance, holding onto who ever was on my back. I had a pretty good guess though…

A hand came from behind me and punched me in the face. I immediately brought a hand up to my cheek, but quickly put it back behind me because I almost dropped Illiana.

"You!" Illiana screamed in my ear. She punched me again and I winced, resisting the urge not to touch my cheek again and drop her. 'You idiot! You can't just _pour_ a bucket of _freezing water_ on a girl when she's _sleeping_!"

"Shhhhhh!"

Illiana's and my head simultaneously turned towards the door that was kind of hidden in the corner of a wall and watched intently as it creaked open a bit and a face poked out.

"The goat-man." I said.

"Blaaaaaah." The goat-man responded angrily. "Stop calling me that. It's Coach Hedge. I am not a goat."

He walked over to the dining table and started eating a spoon. I didn't ask. Maybe it was a goat thing?

Coach Hedge had begun to eat one of the plates too, before pointing towards the door leading to the stairs above deck.

"They gone yet?"

I raised an eyebrow in confusion, and I felt Illiana jump off my back. I had forgotten she was still on it.

"Uh, who?" Illiana asked.

"The things in the scary cloaks. The ones that kidnapped the kids." said Coach Hedge.

Illiana's eyes widened. "Since whe–"

"I knew it!" I exclaimed. "They're all missing, right? I searched all their cabins and they were gone. And there was a lot of screaming at one point."

Coach Hedge nodded. "Darn right they did. Screamed my horns off! Well, it was mostly the blonde."

Illiana nudged me. "What's he talking about?" she whispered curiously.

Coach Hedge gave her a look. "You can always ask me. I won't bite, cupcake." He whipped out his baseball bat. "I'm only here to help you scrawny little demigods kick Night's butt!"

"So then what happened with Annabeth?" Illiana asked, probably figuring out that by the 'blonde', Coach Hedge meant Annabeth.

Coach Hedge crosses his arms thoughtfully, resting his bat against the table. "Annabeth and the island girl were over here in the mess hall, talking about something teenage girls usually discuss. I didn't bother listening, I was having my breakfast." He pointed to a chewed off a section of the tablecloth.

"Anyways, Annabeth suddenly dropped her plate and her eyes went all coo-coo, and she was stumbling around for a few seconds. Then she started babbling nonsense about nothing in general, and Calypso started to panic and was trying to find out what was wrong with the girl."

I frowned. I mean, I didn't really know Annabeth but that didn't sound like something she would just start doing for fun.

Coach Hedge continued his story. "So I ran to my cabin, grabbed my trusty bat, and came back down here again to see island girl with two forks in her hand, facing off some weirdo in a hood. Annabeth was staring at the wall now and suddenly started to call out Percy's name. Then the girl turned around and saw the guy with the dark cloak and screamed so loud Olympus could hear her."

Coach Hedge shuddered. "It was so high-pitched I went deaf for a few, but when I came back to my senses the dark guy was pickin' up Annabeth. So I ran up and tried to whack him with my bat, but he disappeared! The darn guy vanished on me!"

Coach Hedge slammed his fist into the table, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Illiana take a step back.

"And now island girl is over there in that room, shakin' so much she could shatter into sand herself."

Illiana looked shell-shocked. "Jace, what have we gotten ourselves into?" she whispered, and I nodded thinking the exact same thing. How did our lives get turned upside-down so fast?

"And that was the emergency I had to wake you up for."

Illiana shrugged. "I still hate you."

She gave me a quick wink and walked over to the small room Coach Hedge had emerged from earlier and went inside.

I sighed and looked up, then suddenly realized I had been left alone with the passive-aggressive, baseball-wielding goat man.

I wanted to go explore the ship to look for clues, but I was afraid Coach Hedge would think I was being rude by leaving. I finally decide to leave because he was too busy chewing on the silverware to notice me slip out of the room.

I walked up the stairs to the deck above and realized the two Pegasi and the Cyclops were gone too. I wonder if they had also been kidnapped by the mysterious people who had taken the rest of the crew?

I paced the perimeter of the deck, and when I was sure I would find nothing up here I started towards the stairs leading to the cabins.

Just as I was about to go underneath the deck, I heard a yell.

"Hey! Is anyone up? Help please!"

I jumped at the sudden voice and ran over to the side of the deck from where I had heard the voice from. I looked down into the ocean and spotted the cyclops, Tyson.

I frowned. "What're you doing down there?"

Tyson smiled up at me. "Help please! I fell off. A big black monster was chasing me!"

I raised my eyebrows at his description, but I shrugged it off and started to wonder how I would get him back up.

Tyson was holding onto a thin, tiny rope attached to the ship to avoid from drifting away, but even if he tossed the other end back up to me I doubted I could pull him up with it. Firstly, I would die of exhaustion before I ever fully got him over, and secondly, the rope would probably snap after being pulled for at least two seconds.

"Uh, I'm not really sure how to get you back up here."

Tyson's face morphed into a look of distress. "I need to get on and find Percy!"

I gulped. "Uh, Percy's gone. He got taken by...people."

"Bad people!" Tyson bellowed. "Like the one chasing me!"

A flash of hope panged in my chest and I nodded at Tyson eagerly. "Yea! Do you remember what they looked like?"

Tyson shook his head. "Only had a big black cloak on. And it chased me."

I sighed. "It's ok." I looked down, searching the sides of the ship for anything to help bring him up. Then out of nowhere, I spotted a thick rope floating out in the ocean. I realized it was the same one I had used to pull up the pail of water, but got confused because I had remembered it drifting away.

"Hey, Tyson!" I called.

"Help?" Tyson asked hopefully.

"Yea I think I found you something. Could you reach back and grab that big rope behind you?"

Tyson frowned but did as I said. His face became a bright smile. "Daddy! Daddy brought the rope! To help us!"

I raised my eyebrows. Then I remembered how apparently Percy and this big cyclops were brothers and Percy's dad was a god. I couldn't remember who though. I looked down at the rope in Tyson's hands, that had suddenly appeared on the water, and realized it was Poseidon.

"Hey buddy, could you throw that back up to me?"

What I wasn't expecting was the rope to come hurtling back up over the side with such force thrown by the Cyclops that it would whack me in the face and knock me to the floor. I groaned in pain and rubbed my nose.

"Did you catch?" I heard Tyson's voice yell.

"Ow," I mumbled in return, but I got back on my feet, the rope in my hands. I walked over to one of the large wooden pillars on the deck and tied a double knot around it.

"Okay, start climbing up!" I yelled down to Tyson.

After a minute or so, I saw Tyson just climbing over the deck and tumbling over the side. I looked him up and down and watched in curiosity as he shook himself like a dog, tons over flying from him and soaking me.

"Great," I muttered. "Now I'm wet too."

"Brother?" Tyson's large voice startled me.

"He got taken by the big black monsters, buddy."

Tyson's face fell, then became determined. "We must find him!"

"Good idea! Why didn't I think of that?" I said sarcastically, but I don't think Tyson knew that.

"Yes!" he beamed at me, then lumbered over to the stairs leading towards the mess hall. I sighed. This was going to be tough.

I raced after Tyson. "Tyson! The whole crew was kidnapped and they didn't leave a trace of where they were going. We can't just travel the world and hope we'll bump into them!" But Tyson wasn't listening, instead, he raced into the mess hall and started yelling at Coach Hedge.

"Friend! Let's go find Percy!" His bright, encouraging attitude despite our helpless situation somehow annoyed me. Didn't he see? It wasn't as simple as whatever he was thinking. We couldn't just call out someone's name and expect them to come waltzing back to us.

For the next ten minutes, Tyson was running up and down the ship, flipping chairs, scavenging through cabinets and occasionally jumping over the side of the ship as if hoping the kidnappers were hiding them in the water. It was exhausting, especially to me who had to keep getting Tyson back onto the ship.

No matter how many times I had to yell at the back of Tyson's head and tell him what he was doing was getting us nowhere, it was pointless. It was like pouring out my anger to a wall. Apparently, my words meant nothing to Tyson, but the longer I had to deal with him the more my frustration grew. I was at breaking point when we were in the hall and Tyson suddenly decided, "Let's go check if they are hiding under the beds!"

That was it. I blew up.

"TYSON!" My furious voice stopped Tyson in his tracks, just for a moment. He turned to face me, his expression startled.

"This is not some stupid game of hide and seek! Everyone is missing and they are not underneath a bed, they were kidnapped!" I didn't care that Tyson now looked on the verge of tears at my outburst. I kept going.

"If you don't start actually using your brain, we might never actually find them and they could be gone forever! So I need you to shut up and start thinking, because if not, whatever took our crew is sooner or later is going to come after us too, and your brother won't be coming back."

When I finally finished, I looked firmly into Tyson's eyes, hoping for some kind of confirmation that he had understood what I had said and was ready to listen. What I saw instead made me falter, and I took a shaky step back because I recognized that look. Tyson's eyes were as large as saucers, but there was also a strange pain in them, one not many people can understand unless you've experienced it yourself. I saw it in my mother's eyes right after she had failed to get rid of the hellhound, just moments before her death. I saw it in my step-father's eyes as soon as he saw my mother outside on the pavement, already dead. And I know I felt it when I watched my own mother bleed to death after she gave up her life to help save mine. It was the fear of losing someone, someone so close to your heart your whole existence would've changed if you lost them. Tyson had that pain in his eyes when I told him that he wasn't going to find Percy his way. When I told him his brother might be gone forever.

Overwhelmed with feelings of regret for what I'd done, I ran out of the hall and I didn't look back.

 **Soooo, thoughts?** **Tell meh in the comments :) I really appreciate everyone who comments for my story so from now on every time I get a new comment I'll give them a shoutout on my next chapter and respond to their comment in their PM's :D if this encourages ya'll to start talking more, I'll gladly do it. Hope you are enjoying the story so far, stay tuned! :P**


	20. The Argo II Becomes The God's Party Boat

**GUYS I UPDATED :D And for this special occasion...I have for you...THE LONGEST CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF CHAPTERS :)) And if you were wondering what the occasion is...drumroll pleeeaaseee...It is August 18, Percy Jackson's birthday! :P**

 **Please enjoy this special super duper long chapter, and don't forget to comment!**

 **Calypso**

I've seen them before. I know I have. I just don't remember when.

The question for me wasn't where. The only place I've ever know was Ogygia, and before Ogygia I didn't have any blank spots in my memory. But on Ogygia it's hard to tell if I don't remember anything because with the non-existent time system I would never know if suddenly a few hours, or even days were missing from my memory.

I know for sure that the memory of them was taken from me because I do have a pretty good ability to recall events, and I was somehow sure I had seen the things in cloaks before. Maybe even in my dreams?

I choked out a few more sobs and squeezed my legs in tighter into my chest. We were alone.

After the man in the hood had taken Annabeth, Coach Hedge and I had rushed into the small storage room in the mess hall and turned out the lights. Now I just cried in this corner.

I heard a quiet grunt, and lifted my head to where Coach Hedge was still sitting on his chair right in front of the door, baseball bat in hand. I almost laughed. He couldn't expect them to die at the hand of a rusty old baseball bat, could he?

I still don't know exactly what those things were, or where I remember them from, but I know I only had bad memories of them. They took Annabeth, and did Zeus know what to her? Mabe Zeus didn't even know. She sounded mad too, like she'd lost her mind. They'd probably taken the rest of my friends as well. Maybe even the new ones? What was it, Illiana and Jace? How would they be able to handle something like this? And Leo! I cried even more. What if they took him too?

I heard the _tap tap_ of footsteps outside the door, and my head jerked up in fear. Coach Hedge and I made eye contact but didn't budge, unsure what to do. We waited in silence.

About a minute later we began to hear voices. That meant there was more than one person here! But who was it? I hoped it was Percy or Jason or someone with useful powers to help get Annabeth back. Maybe even Hazel! There was no question these hooded things may have something to do with the Underworld. No offense to the others, but I doubted the ability to talk pretty or build robots was going to help this situation. But then again, what if it the hooded men were outside? What if they were still on this ship? I shivered at the thought and curled tighter into my ball in the corner of the small room.

My head jerked up once again at the sound of yelling. What was going on out there?

The voices sounded muffled, but I could distinctly make out the words, "sleep" and "water". Did Percy pour water on someone while they were sleeping again? Although I was sure I had heard that, I was quite confused as to why people were playing practical jokes on each other in the middle of a crisis like this.

Coach Hedge's eyes widened in recognition and he breathed out a sigh of relief. He got out of his chair and opened the door, whispering a loud "Shhh!", before walking out of the room completely and leaving me here alone. What was he thinking?

After a few minutes of Coach describing the situation to the people outside, I had figured out that it was the two new kids, Jace and Illiana. The fact that they were running about and yelling at each other in the mess hall probably meant that the hooded things were gone. I still didn't feel like moving from my spot on the floor though. My head was buried in. my arms and I didn't look up.

"Hey."

I heard the voice a few feet in front of me and I jolted at the sound, feeling jumpy because of what had happened with the hooded figures. Instead, I was staring into the face of one of the new kids, specifically the girl.

"Illiana." I said, which was unusual. I wasn't really good with names after spending so much time alone without any people on Ogygia. But I had remembered hers.

She gave me a soft smile. "Hello." She came and sat down beside me in my corner, and I smiled inwardly at her friendly manner. She couldn't have been more than a year or two younger than Leo, which I had considered to be my age too because I've been the same age for a very long time. I was 15, so maybe she was 13? Is that what she had said earlier? Was the boy also 13? I couldn't remember anything right now, my insides a jumble of fear and sorrow. I once again I was absorbed into my scared and sad thoughts, not worrying enough about the crew but too much about if the hooded men would come back for me.

"Pretty tough, huh?" Illiana's voice brought me out of my confusion and I nodded unconsciously, but she didn't seem to notice that I was barely paying attention so she continued. "If I'm this scared I can't imagine what the others are going through right now."

I nodded again, too polite to ignore her but not polite enough to respond. "The goat-man said there were people in long black hoods?" she asked, turning towards me in her crouched position.

I laughed lightly at her use of the name "goat-man". I had learned after only two days at the camp that Coach Hedge did not like being called goat-man, or anything with the word goat in it. I suddenly remembered she was still waiting for my answer, and nodded. "Yes." I said. " And their hoods were so long and dark it covered their entire face." I shuddered just thinking about the creatures, or whatever they were. Right before Coach Hedge and I ran into this room, I saw more of the hooded figures run past the doorway. I knew Coach Hedge saw it too but neither of us said a word, in fear of notifying them to our presence.

Illiana and I sat in silence, not and awkward one, but not a comfortable one either. It was like we were too scared to speak and disturb the silence itself. And all I could think about was the eerie feeling of recognition I got when I had seen the hooded figure.

"I've seen them before," I said out of nowhere, just itching to say it out loud, like maybe that would help me remember.

Illiana looked at me with a weird expression. "You know who they are? Or...what they are?" she asked curiously.

I bit my lip and thought hard, the memory just on the edge of my mind. I hate it when that happens. "I know I've seen them before," I said again. "I know I have. I just...I don't remember."

Illiana released a breath she had been holding, probability disappointed in me. I couldn't blame her, I was too. I was so close to figuring out what those things were, so close to remembering and getting our friends back. If only my mind didn't become so clouded every time I began to get some kind of image in my mind. I could tell, the memory was so close….

"Are you okay?"

I jumped slightly, startled. I looked at Illiana and she looked slightly worried. I realized I must have been staring hard at the wall or something. Leo told me I had a tendency to look angry when I was thinking.

"I'm okay." I reassured her. "I'm just trying to remember where I knew the hooded figures from."

She shrugged and looked at the floor. "Don't worry about it. We'll find a way to get them back. And if we don't I'm sure they will themselves."

I scolded myself on the inside. What was I doing, being calmed down by this girl when really I should be the one making her feel better! I don't understand how she can just find out that her whole world is a lie and gods are real and she _is_ half a god and then the only people helping her through this went in the middle of a war against Night, and here she is reassuring another girl that everything's going to be alright. I really had to admire her strength.

"I'm sure you're right," I said.

Illiana nodded. "I hope so." she said quietly. I noticed her sudden discomfort and realized she didn't actually believe the words herself. Immediately a wave of pity rushed through me, thinking how awful it must be for her to be so new to all of this and suddenly have everything go wrong.

"You have any friends back where you're from?" I asked her, trying to change the subject.

Illiana smiled, the thought of home warming her. "Mhm. My best friend's name is Adrianna, whom I've known forever." she said, her voice becoming more energetic. "And then my other friend, her name is similar to yours. It's Callisto. She is the sweetest person alive. I think you guys would be good friends."

I nodded, not mentioning the 'if we don't die' factor.

She was still beaming, thinking about her friends back home. I wondered how it felt to have so many close friends like that."And then there's…." her voice seemed to have lost its excitement. and she stared ahead at the far wall with a concerned expression on her face. "There's Lacie and Lexie….they're twins." she finished uncertainly, and I could tell there was something she wasn't telling me.

Before I could question her about it, she made up her mind to tell me herself. "They're the reason we came here."

At first I stared at her blankly, unable to comprehend her words. _The reason you came here?_ I thought. I distinctly recalled Jace and Illiana saying eidolons sent them here. But eidolons have to have a host….and Illiana's friends….

"It was like...they were possessed," she continued uneasily, as if unsure if she remembered correctly. I decided to stop her before she frightened herself too much. She seemed pretty fragile.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they've gone back to normal." I stood up, gesturing for Illiana to follow me. She got up and walked behind me as I entered the mess hall. "Would you like something to eat?" I glanced to the far wall of the room and my eyes widened when I saw the time on the clock.

"What? It's only-"

"6:30?!" Illiana screamed. "Jace woke me up at 6:30?!" I heard her growl and felt a pang of sympathy for the boy all of a sudden. Pray to Zeus she doesn't murder you, I thought, watching her storm out of the hallway. For whatever reason.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, thinking about my lack of sleep from all the commotion this morning, and how it was still so early. Maybe we could hold off on breakfast for now.

 **Illiana**

I groaned furiously as I exited the mess hall, and began to search for Jace. That arrowhead better be sorry he ever messed with me. And he better have a good explanation for it too.

I stopped in my tracks. Well technically he did have a good explanation….he just didn't have a very good solution for his problem.

"Pouring a bucket of ocean water on my head….waking me up like that so early….who does the darn kid think he is?" I grumbled to myself as I stormed down the corridor, which I soon recognized as the hallway with the cabins. I passed by the bathrooms and shrugged, thinking I may as well take a bath or brush my teeth or something like that.

I felt a little more awake after freshening up, but I still yawned as I walked out of the girls' bathroom. I was just about to walk into my cabin, when I heard the faint sound of tapping coming from above deck. Curious about the sound, I found the narrow staircase at the end of the hallway and walked up.

I stepped onto the wooden deck and found Jace standing at the side of the boat, staring out into the ocean and absentmindedly drumming his fingers against the railing.

I crossed my arms. Just the person I was looking for. Before I could walk up to him and ask him what was wrong, because he didn't strike me as the type to ponder life's problems or enjoy peacefully enjoy the calmness of the sea, and maybe yell at him about the incident this morning, I stopped myself.

You know how I mentioned I was kinda boy-crazy. Well, maybe I didn't. But I should have, because I was.

Jace lifted his arm and ran a sturdy hand through his soft, black hair. My cheeks reddened, because the sight made him look like he was modeling for the cover of a boy band's album or something. Not that I liked him or anything. Shut up.

I shook the thoughts out of my head and walked up to him, but didn't say anything. I leaned my head on the railing beside him and he abruptly turned towards me. He sighed and turned back towards the sea.

"Oh. It's you."

I stared straight ahead, noticing the apparent pain his voice held. Well, hello to you too, I thought bitterly. What had happened while I was talking to Calypso?

Before I could ask, he let out a short laugh. "Well, what was I expecting anyways? Some monster to come above deck and have a chat with me?"

I realized he was talking about how he'd gotten slightly startled when I came up to him. I snorted. "Well that wouldn't be entirely impossible. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if some mythical creature came out of nowhere and attacked us right now." I shuddered, thinking just how much of a reality that could be.

And of course, the universe wasn't done making my life miserable just yet, so it had to taunt me.

I felt a wave of fear wash through my brain. Suddenly everything seemed really cold and….well evil. I stood up straight and looked ahead at the waves that had started to become more violent, crashing against each other as if the current couldn't decide which way it wanted to go. Nonetheless we still drifted on in the same direction, but something had changed.

"Did you feel that?" Jace suddenly asked, startling me. I felt jumpy, because I heard the sound of footsteps below deck and almost jumped over the side of the boat. I looked at Jace and he suddenly appeared on guard, so he had probably sensed the evil feeling too. Just when I felt like a saw something in the distance, something like a large rock and a raging storm, I felt like someone had turned out all the lights because suddenly it was pitch-black. Before I could scream, it turned brighter again, but more like dawn. Then it became darker and darker, until it was completely dark again. Soon a blinding flash of light caused me to stumble back a few steps, but just like that it disappeared and the world fell into darkness. I frowned up at the sky, as if daring it to make another move.

Jace tilted his head. "Well that was weird." he said bluntly. And I couldn't agree more. But more than it being weird, it scared me. A lot. You may be thinking, well jeez Illiana, the sky just switched on and off for like a minute there, what's the big deal? Well the truth is, I find myself every few minutes thinking I'm just going about my day as if it's ordinary. Or maybe I want to believe it's ordinary. But the point is, I'm not good at accepting things. Half of me still believes I've been chosen for some huge prank and the entire world is in on it. As nice as they are, I find myself wishing Percy, Tyson, Calypso, even Jace, were all not real. I feel as if I don't care as much as everyone else does right now that the entire crew is missing. I hate myself for it, but right now I'm only wondering how long will it take to get back home and live with my aunt, go to school, and have my life be like how it used to be before I fell out of the sky. But it's things like these, things that have no explanation, like seeing that memory of my past, or the sky changing between both day and night, that truly remind me that all of this is real and that now I'm a part of it too. As selfish as it is, right now all I want is to go back to my comfy bed at home and let these kids solve this problem on their own. How helpful can I really be if I still try to live my life the way it was before? Pretend it's all the same, and believe all of this is fake. I'm essentially useless.

A single tear escaped my eyes. I buried my face in my hands and slumped forward on the ship's railing, trying to cover it up. I didn't want anyone to know what was going on inside my head.

I heard Jace shift beside me and made sure I had wiped my watery eyes. I lifted my head up a little, my face still nestled in my arms on the railing, and looked out at the sea. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness a little, but I couldn't really see anything farther than ten feet out into the water. I thought of the large black mass that I had seen earlier. I wondered what it was….

 **Jace**

I tilted my head sideways at the sky, as if trying to see it from a different perspective. Nope. Still dark. I turned to my left to look at Illiana and her head was face-down and resting in her arms. She was so still I almost thought she was sleeping and immediately felt a pang of guilt for waking her up this morning the way I did. She was so still, that when she suddenly lifted her head I almost jumped off the ship, but managed to refrain from screaming. I hadn't realized I'd been staring at her for so long, and the sudden motion startled me. But her chin was now resting on her elbows as she looked out towards the sea, and because it was so dark she didn't seem to notice my gaze. I didn't take me eyes off her.

I wondered what she was thinking. I couldn't see her expression that clearly but it looked almost confused, and her eyes were squinting out at the ocean. Almost like she was looking for something. Was she?

I looked straight ahead in the direction Illiana was looking, but all I could see was nothingness past a few feet into the ocean. At that moment the sky brightened a little, but only a little, so that now I could see things close to me a little clearer. I looked at the sky once again and suddenly realized the sun wasn't even up yet. Was it really that early? The clock I had passed by in the hallway with Tyson earlier had read 6:45, and I'd gone above deck a while later. I've also been up here for a while so it must have been at least 7:30 or something by now. I wasn't super smart but even I knew sunrise was a little behind schedule.

I squinted at the horizon, which still showed no signs of an incoming sun, and wondered what was wrong now. These days it starts getting light around 6:45, and then the sun rises around 7:00.

I was a little rusty because my mom had died years ago, but back when it was just me and her, she used to tell me stories of Greek heroes and myths and all the gods. She was quite obsessed with Greek mythology, which it now seems wasn't really mythology, and made sure I knew everything about it too. Now that I think about it, Night and Day may control the sky, but I was pretty sure the sun was someone else's job. And that someone, if I remembered correctly, was Apollo. But what was taking him so long?

I sighed and decided maybe even gods slacked off once in a while. But still, half the people on this ship had instantly gone missing and I couldn't help wondering if the lack of Apollo was related to it. Could gods even get kidnapped?

"Why us?"

Again, I was startled by Illiana's voice. I was extra jumpy lately, and I didn't know why.

"What do you mean?" I asked her. She didn't look at me but I could tell she was frowning.

"I mean, why us?" she said. Well, that cleared it up.

"Why did it have to be us? I hate this. It's barely been two days and we've been cornered by creepy possessing demons, fallen out of the sky, found out one of our parents were gods, watch the sky literally be at war with itself, have the only people who knew what they were doing kidnapped, and now we're living in constant fear of our lives and we never wanted any of this!" Her eyes were wild and she was breathing heavily, and then I realized she was crying too. She put her hands on her face and sobbed. "Wh-why did it have to be me. I- I just want to go home."

I stared at her, unsure what to do. I mean, I wasn't around crying girls that often. I lived with two other males and had no girl experience whatsoever.

I felt panicky, and I wanted her to stop. I awkwardly reached over and patted her back. Was that what you were supposed to do? Pat her back? I was so confused. But it wasn't working. Out of all that was happening lately, I think this has probably been one of my worst problems. I tilted my head at her and just listened to the sound of her crying, and watched the tears fall off her cheeks. 'I just want to go home', she had said. I felt so bad and I wanted to comfort her but I wasn't sure how. How do I handle this? Do I just keep patting her back? Do I leave her alone? Will she think I don't care about her? When will we she stop crying? How do I make her stop? I think I was more distressed than her at this point.

Amidst all the questions and emotions tumbling around in my brain, I heard one voice in the back of my mind.

 _ **Give her a hug**_ _._

I frowned but I didn't question my….conscience? Is that what it was? Anyways, that's what I did.

I wrapped my arms around Illiana's back and pulled her close to me.

 _ **Stroke her hair.**_ I froze. What a weird thing to do. Why would I do something like that? That would make it awkward. Why was my conscience so specific, too?

 _ **Stroke. Her hair,**_ demanded the voice in my head. I stroked her hair. I took my hand and delicately ran it over her soft curls, and repeated the action. Illiana turned towards me and buried her sobbing face in my shirt, her arms bent and her fingers gripping the front of my shirt. I was glad Illiana couldn't see me because I was pretty sure my face was burning up.

 _What now?_ I asked my conscience. I was still hugging her and stroking her hair but I wasn't sure if there was more I had to do, or if I had to stop, or even if I had to do this for all eternity.

 _ **Tell her she doesn't have to worry,**_ said the voice. Whatever you say, I thought.

"You don't have to worry." I whispered into her ear. Since she was so close I realized now that she was barely an inch shorter than me, maybe even my same height, which slightly bothered me. I didn't like feeling short.

 _ **Now tell her you'll take care of her.**_ I frowned once more. I didn't know where my conscience was going with this, but it seemed to be working, so I gave in. Illiana had stopped crying and was now just sniffling, still leaning on me, listening to my words.

"I'll take care of you," I told her, copying the voice's exact words.

 _ **We'll get home**_ _,_ said the voice.

"We'll get home," I said.

 _ **I'll make sure you're safe. I won't let anything happen to you.**_

"I'll make sure you're safe. I won't let anything happen to you."

 _ **Because…**_

"Because…"

 **I love you.**

"I love- wait, what?"

Even Illiana was confused. I raised my head, which I hadn't realized was resting on top of hers, and she lifted hers to look at me, her eyes still red from crying but filled with suspicion.

"What did you say?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.

"I don't, I- the voice!" I responded, which I'm sure cleared nothing up.

"What voice?" she asked. 'What are you-"

"Ah! How awful!" cried out a distressed voice. My eyes widened in recognition. It was same voice as my conscience.

I whipped around, searching for the source of the voice, and what I saw was definitely not my conscience.

"Terrible!" said the lady again. And not just any lady. This one was _beautiful._

I stammered at the sight of her. "You-you're not- ug gah huh."

"Do I look like your conscience, boy?" she said.

No, you look like a supermodel, I thought. But I immediately I felt a horrible feeling inside for disappointing her. I wanted to make it up to her. I would do anything for her.

I snapped out of the odd thought once I noticed the man standing beside her. I immediately felt nauseous just at the sight of him. If you ever thought someone was the ugliest guy in the world, well then you haven't seen this dude. If it was possible for someone to be the shape of a potato, this guy was exactly that. He had a stubbornly deformed face, and his head was an odd shape, like a mix between a circle, a square and a lump of play-dough. He was kind of tilted when he stood, because one if his legs were in a steel brace and he looked crippled. He wore a rusty lead apron which was covered in holes and burn marks, and an overflowing tool belt around his waist, similar to one I had seen Leo wearing earlier. Fire flickered throughout his dusty beard, and I didn't know much but I knew enough to be pretty sure that _that_ wasn't normal.

The thing that got my attention, was the fact that he was holding a video camera. The camera was resting on a tripod and facing us. I blinked, confused. Was he filming us? My cheeks reddened. Had he been filming us this whole time?

"Ah, yes." he muttered to himself, his voice sounding dry and scratchy as if he had spent an entire lifetime breathing in fire. "Just a little editing and….it's set for Hephaestus TV!"

"Oh, yes." said the lady, smiling happily at us. "This cute little couple would make _everyone_ fall in love with love. I might even show it to some of my sons. They could use a lesson or two from you." The beautiful lady winked at me, and I struggled to remember my name.

I shook my head, confused. What was going on with my brain? I tried to look at the lady again, but had trouble focusing on her features, which seemed to keep changing, or at least I couldn't decide exactly what they were. But all I knew for sure, is that she was _gorgeous._ The funny thing was, she looked a little bit like Illiana. I glimpsed her long black curls and golden brown complexion, but I couldn't remember if I had seen it for real or not. I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was just….wow.

The man grumbled something about 'stupid love magic' and 'unfaithful wives' and began to glow. The lady was still smiling at us when she spoke.

"I advise you look away," she warned, and unable to imagine ever disobeying her, I did what she said. A few seconds later I saw something flash brightly behind me out of the corner of my eye, and after that I had a feeling it was okay to look again. Illiana turned around at the same time as I did.

"Who are you?" Illiana asked with a suspicious look in her eyes, but as I studied the lady more carefully, I think I had a feeling I knew.

The lady smiled warmly, and I felt like I was going to melt right there and be a Jace puddle for the rest of my life. She regarded Illiana with interest, then looked straight at me. "You know, don't you?" she asked me sweetly.

Being the genius I am, I said something real smart like "An ug gah-oo."

She let out a charming little laugh and walked over and pet my head, as I were her pet dog. I wanted to ask her to keep her hand there forever- she smelled like cinnamon and roses- but something in the back of my mind something told me that would have been weird.

Illiana must've noticed the dreamy look on my face, because she scoffed and flicked my arm, hard.

"Ow," I said, still half in a daze.

"Stop drooling, arrowhead." she snapped back, "And who the heck are you? What did you do to him?" she asked again, and I could see her glaring at the lady in front of me out of the corner of my eye. What was her problem? She was only being nice.

"Hey, stop it. She's not doing anything wrong." I sort of mumbled, turning my head slightly to look at Illiana.

"Oh, it's alright sweetie." the lady beamed at us. "You two are just too _cute_! Can't you tell? She's jealous!" she said, delighted.

I frowned. "She's-"

"No!" yelled Illiana. "No, I'm not it's just-"

"And you still don't know who I am, do you?" interrupted the lady in her sugary voice, looking directly at Illiana.

"Aphrodite." I said dreamily. "Goddess of beauty." And thinking back, I must've sounded really dumb or something because behind me Illiana scoffed again and I could hear the roll in her eyes when she muttered under her breath,

"That's not the only thing she's the goddess of…"

"What was that my dear?" asked Aphrodite in her ever-so-pleasant voice.

"You're also the goddess of love, aren't you?" Illiana said coldly. Geez. Why was she being so harsh? "He's acting like this because you put him under some kind of spell, huh? To make him fall in love with you?"

Aphrodite didn't act on the accusation, but even I could tell she Illiana was getting on her nerves, and I didn't blame her. What was wrong with Illiana today? Aphrodite was being so friendly. I was about to defend her again when she smiled so dazzlingly soldiers in the middle of a war would have stopped and stared.

"Oh how cute!" Aphrodite swooned. "Your love for the boy is so strong it made you forget the fact that I am a goddess and you are just a little half-blood."

Aphrodite's words had a sinister tone to them, but I was more focused on something else. My eyes widened and Illiana seemed panicked.

"My love for the- you mean arrowhead? No way in Hades I would ever like him! He's- he's Jace!" she said incredulously, and I frowned at her. To be honest, I was a little hurt. I mean, I knew she didn't like me but she didn't have to make the idea sound so appalling.

"Oh, you even have nicknames for each other!" Aphrodite giggled, and I raised my eyebrows at her comment. Illiana just poured out all her feelings about her dislike towards me, and all Aphrodite got out of it was the nickname bit. "Percabeth May be my OTP," she continued, "But don't you worry, you two are probably, like, my second favorite ship in the entire 21st century!"

Aphrodite clapped her hands in delight and Illiana stomped her foot in frustration. "Where did you even get that idea? I was just worried that you did something to him-"

"Fight it all you want, dear. Remember, I am the goddess of love, and I know romance when I see it." Aphrodite reasoned. I felt like my mind had begun to become less muddled, as if my brain was finally thinking clearly.

"I think you've got the wrong idea miss-" I started, but she cut me off with a finger to her lips.

"Remind me again how you two arrived here, on this ship," Aphrodite asked us with a teasing look.

I thought back to that time. "Well, the eidolons sent us here," I responded simply.

"Uh-uh-uh," argued Aphrodite with a sweet smile, "Zeus sent you here. The eidolons were sent by Hera to round up two boy and girl demigods so that Zeus could transfer them to the quest." she explained. " It's so cute how clueless you are!"

Before I could protest, she continued. "They moved from school to school, and I really couldn't care less about the countless pairs of brats- I mean lovelies the eidolons reported to Zeus. The prophecy was stirring up all sorts rumors and trouble on Olympus- and I just can't stand rumors about me, you know?" Aphrodite was inspecting her nails with a worried look.

"I bet you start them though…" Illiana muttered to herself, but Aphrodite couldn't hear her, so she continued anyway.

"We gods didn't appreciate the negative attention, and decided to prove that this would not be our downfall, and we would do something to stop Nyx."

"You didn't want attention?" Illiana said under her breath. "That must be new." But again. Aphrodite either didn't hear her or was just really tolerant of sassy demigods. I didn't suspect the latter.

"Who's Nyx?" I asked before Aphrodite could continue. Aphrodite gave me an odd look.

"Night, of course! Ugh, hate the woman. She had a horrible sense of style. Always dressed in such hideous black robes. Anyways, we decided that with our help there would be no doubt that Night wouldn't win. Also, after the Titan War and the Giant War, we gods decided it would be quicker to help rid possible threats _before_ they tried to take over the world, you know? So Apollo had a little heart to heart with the Fates and figured out that there were specifically two unclaimed demigods, one male, one female, that were going to join the seven on their quest. We consulted the Hermes cabin at that wretched heroes camp- it's really rather dirty, and full of stalkery satyrs, but all of the unclaimed campers refused to participate. A shame," Aphrodite sighed. "They would have been much easier deaths to dismiss. But alas, now we have you two, and you can be positive I'm rooting for you getting into Elysium together after you're killed so you can live happily in the afterlife, together forever!" she finished beaming at us.

I stared at her, my jaw dropped. Illiana took her fingers and pushed it up. "Don't gawk," she mumbled, but I could tell she was also surprised because she wasn't looking at me when she said it.

"You mean we're going to die?" I asked loudly, and Aphrodite laughed her beautiful laugh and waved me off.

"Don't be ridiculous, Hercules!" she smiled reassuringly, but I winced at her use of my first name. How did she know? Oh right, she was a god.

"I believe you'll make it through at least the rest of the week," she reassured me. "Enough for you confess!" She winked at me again and it made me blush, but this time not because of her but because of what she was hinting. I looked at Illiana nervously and hoped she hadn't gotten the wrong idea, but she was staring off into space, her mind running.

"Why did... why did they pick us?" she asked Aphrodite worriedly. "The eidolons I mean."

Aphrodite laughed cheerfully as if it was obvious. "First of all because the eidolons had sensed that one of you had a powerful scent, we still don't know which one of you by the way," she added, and I gulped. We knew. "But no one cares about that. Most importantly, they noticed a special connection between you two already, so it would be easier to transfer you together and more of a chance that you'll cooperate!"

Connected? I thought. How?

"Personally I think that connection was love, and don't you agree?" Aphrodite looked at us with raised eyebrows.

Illiana and I both started to protest at the same time.

"I don't like-"

"Love? You're cra-"

"We just met-"

"I don't even know-"

"Oh please," Aphrodite rolled her eyes like a teenager. "Don't be like that! Oh, but it's so cute how oblivious you two are. And I've helped you along the way you know, as soon as the eidolons reported you and I saw a possible romance blooming." She clapped her hands together and smiled at us, like she so was proud of herself.

"What… what did you do?" Illiana asked nervously.

Aphrodite giggled once again, and I raised my eyebrows. I was getting over her, fast. She was too….bubbly.

"Oh, well, a lot of things actually!" She said with excess enthusiasm. "I put the idea in Hercules's head to have the exact same schedule as you, I asked Hades for a little favor and sent a Fury to provoke him and protect Illiana, and-"

"Wait, you mean Ms. Fury?" Illiana asked, just as surprised as I was.

"You sent that scary lady after us?" I practically yelled.

Aphrodite shrugged. "Well I admit she did a little too good of a job, but there were results!" she reasoned. "I also used a little love magic to, ah, _set the mood_ outside the bathrooms that day."

It took me a moment to realize what she was talking about, and then my eyes widened. Illiana got to the punch before I did.

"What is up with you toiling with our lives like that? How would you like it if we controlled yours, huh?" She screamed in the surprised goddesses face, her face flaming.

Aphrodite's smile morphed into a look of distaste. "Do not pick a fight with me, insignificant half-blood." She warned, a sinister tone to her voice. "I may seem like just a pretty face, my dear, but remember I am a god and I could kill you without a second thought."

I scoffed. Aphrodite was getting a little out of hand. "It seems to us, that these 'insignificant half-bloods' do all your work for you. You gods can barely manage the threats themselves, it's half-bloods that handle them for you, isn't it? Kill us, and who would save your lives?"

Aphrodite stared at me a look of pure shock, as if she couldn't believe I had spoken back to her. Honestly, I felt a little good putting her in her place after she talked to Illiana like that.

"As narrow minded as he is, arrowhead's right." Illiana backed me up. I ignored the 'narrow minded' part and tried to feel grateful. "You mentioned a Titan War and a Giant War? I imagine those were fought for you too, right?" she taunted.

Aphrodite regarded us with hatred in her eyes as if we had finally crossed the line. But I wasn't scared of her. What was the worst she could do- make us love each other to death?

"Be lucky I even showed interest in you at all. Heroes who are all bark and no bite shouldn't even deserve my attention in the first place. I've decided you are too unimportant to waste my time on." She began to turn around as if to leave.

"Or maybe you just don't want to admit we're right," I said out of the blue.

"I suggest you quiet down, punk. We could do a lot more damage to your puny little lives if we really wanted." threatened an unknown voice.

I felt him before I saw him. Waves of anger rushed through me, and in a moment of madness I felt like strangling every person in sight. Just then, a man materialized in front of me. He wore dark shades over his eyes, and muscles rippled underneath his red muscle shirt. Over that, a black motorcycle jacket to top off the ' _I'm in a biker gang and I'm going to kill you_ ' look.

He snapped his fingers and a 3-foot long bronze sword appeared at his feet. It glinted despite the lack of sunlight as the burly man bent over to pick it up, and I watched in amazement as it shrunk into a sharp, 12-inch long dagger.

The man huffed in satisfaction and handled the blade in his hands. " A fine weapon," he said. "Forged by the Cyclops during ancient times, made out of the sea itself. The water magic it holds makes it pretty powerful."

He looked up and glared straight at me, and I could almost feel his eyes burning me from behind his shades.

"None of you ungrateful godling brats deserve a weapon from me, much less a special one like this, but barnacle beard convinced old thunder suit to order all the gods to help this quest in some way."

I saw the waves over the side of the boat rise all of a sudden, as if they were angry, and heard thunder flash overhead.

"Yeah, yeah." muttered the scary man.

He looked between us and snarled back at me. "You know, you remind me of that Percy Jackson." The man spat out the name with disgust. "You both have the same foolish nerve. I may not be the wisdom goddess but take it from me, it's not wise to make a god your enemy." He said coolly, and now I was almost sure there was some kind of fire burning behind his shades.

I could see Aphrodite smirking at us from behind Ares, and I couldn't help thinking how much of a coward she was. She was only this smug because this man had come to her rescue. No. God, I thought.

"You're Ares, aren't you," I said suddenly after some consideration. His aura, that must have been what had spiked the sudden feelings of anger when he arrived, and his interest in weapons. Ares, the god of war.

He smiled a nasty smile. "Took you look enough. And I advise you don't address me so casually, half-blood. I'm not your buddy to mess around with."

Then he took one more look at the weapon in his hands and tossed it to Illiana. Surprised, she made a quick grab for it and caught it before it fell over the side of the boat and into the ocean.

"That one's for you." Ares nodded at the bronze dagger in her hands. "Made with celestial bronze, and can change between sword and dagger form at will. Has the essence of the sea in it too, so you can summon it using your powers. Don't lose it."

Illiana stared at it in wonder, and for a moment I felt angry- jealous to be more specific. "And where's mine?" I asked.

Ares turned to me and smirked. "Zeus was never specific in exactly _how much_ I had to help. You guys are lucky I even assisted one of you. Find your own weapon, punk."

He looked about ready to leave but turned around again. "Oh, and you two looked pretty good on Hephaestus TV. The old geyser captured your sappy little session perfectly."

Ares smirked and turned his back to me, but once again feelings of spite and resentment flared up inside me.

"What? You afraid of me?" I blurted out. "You know if I had a weapon I'd kick your butt."And as soon as I said it I knew I shouldn't have, but it still felt good.

Ares whipped around to face me. "Is that a challenge, weakling?" Fire flared behind his sunglasses and he stared me down with a cruel smile as if he found me resisting him cute.

"You're new at this, so let me tell you the rules." He held out his arm, his fingers curling into a fist, and I shot forward straight towards the war god. He balled up the front of my shirt and lifted me, so that we were eye level.

"Let me clear something up for you, punk." He spat in my face. "I could curse you right now, and you'd be crippled for the rest of your life. You would never be able to pick up a weapon ever again. Don't make the mistake of thinking the gods need _you._ You're not special, so why don't you take a hike and I'll find some other half-blood to take your place."

I growled in his face, and could only think of one thing to say.

"Your breath reeks."

He punched me, and I fell to the floor, cradling what must've now been a black eye. I tried to hold myself back, but my anger got the best of me. "Is that all you got?" I asked.

I immediately regretted it, because apparently, that wasn't all he got.

His eyes gleamed wickedly behind his mysterious shades, and two long hunting knives appeared in each of his hands. He chuckled darkly.

"You're going to regret messing with the god of war, half-blood."

He slashed straight towards me, and I rolled out of the way. I couldn't open my injured eye, but I could see out of my right one, and saw Ares's snarling face as he threw both knives straight at me. He had deadly aim, but lucky for me I was good at dodging (everyone always wanted me on their team for dodgeball), and just barely avoided the weapons by twisting to my right.

At first, I was satisfied, noticing area was now weaponless, but almost immediately as they had left his hand, two new ones appeared. Of course, the god of war and weapons had an infinite supply and knives.

My face fell at this new development. And being weaponless, I couldn't fight back.

"Are you that much of a cowardly god that you'll only fight a mortal when they're not armed." I snapped before he threw the knives again.

He narrowed his eyes at me but didn't seem to like the word cowardly.

He snapped his fingers and suddenly there was a quiver of arrows slung across my back and a large bow in my hands.

Ares regarded me impatiently. 'Why don't you live up to your name, arrowhead." he snorted at the nickname.

I smiled on the inside. The god had such a big pride and ego that he would even do the most foolish things to protect it. He could've easily skewered me and been done with it, but instead, he didn't want to seem like a 'coward' like I had called him so he armed his opponent. What an idiot.

Ares seemed to know what I was thinking and snarled. "Don't think about it too much, boy. I only fight fair fights," he said.

Yeah. A god against someone who's never even held a weapon before. Sounds fair to me.

I notched an arrow and aimed my bow, but Ares was running towards me in a zig zag so it was hard to catch him. Two of my arrows missed him by mere inches and lodged themselves in the back of the ship. Also, I still couldn't open my left eye so my vision was restricted.

Ares slashed at my head but I sidestepped and using the few seconds he stumbled behind me to shoot for his shoulder, but shooting an arrow when your enemy was less than a foot away from you wasn't going to give it any speed, and the stumble hadn't really fazed him. The arrow fell harmlessly off Ares's back, and he snickered at my weak attempt. But while he was still close I got out an arrow and tried to stab his arm, and Ares, noticing the move last second, barely avoided it. Still, it grazed a part of his arm near his elbow, and he cursed as golden blood started to bubble up at the wound. For a moment I was surprised by the color of his blood, before I remembered that the gods had a different color blood than mortals, golden. I think it was called icky, or maybe liquor…

Ares used my moment of confusion to strike for my legs, and as he aimed down with his right knife and stuck out his left arm, I managed to grab the knife in his left hand. I held the knife out in front of me and smiled in a moment of accomplishment before I felt a stab of pain in my calf, and looked down to discover a wide gash in my right leg. I cursed, and limped away as fast as I could, while Ares took a moment to wonder where his other knife had gone. Now we were on opposite sides of the ship, and I struggled to think how I could possibly fight Ares, much less land a blow on him.

I watched as Ares looked up and noticed me so far away from him. I notched another arrow and let it fly towards him. He easily dodged, as I expected, and I groaned halfheartedly as the arrow struck the post of the lookout tower instead.

My eyes widened, and adrenaline began to course through my veins as an idea came to me. The lookout tower. Height! That's what I needed to be able to use my bow properly. Now i just had to get to it…

Ares sprinted towards me with lighting speed and stabbed forward with his right knife, but I ducked under the blade and ran for the lookout tower. Ares, expecting me to run around him and strike from behind (because I still held one of his knives in my hand), whipped around and tried to slash through me, but noticed a few seconds later that I was nowhere close to him. Ares looked around wildly trying to find me, but by the time he did, I was already at the top of the tower.

Now, with at least 30 feet of height on Ares, I could aim more precisely. But I was still waiting on Ares to do something.

Once Ares realized he couldn't throw his knives that far up without gravity doing its job, because the knives had either fallen back down at 20 feet or softly nudged me when they finally reached the top, he growled and decided he would have to come up and get me.

I was panting, my limbs were aching and my breath hitching. The climb up 30 feet with a bow and knife in my hand, a black eye, and a wounded leg wasn't easy, and I had only begun to feel the effects now. But I was ready.

I waited till Ares was only about 10 feet below me, still climbing the rope ladder, and I could tell he realized what I was going to do when I notched an arrow and aimed it down at him. Before he could react I shot the arrow straight towards his eyes, and it pierced the glass on the left side of his shades, revealing hollow eye sockets filled with fire. The sight didn't surprise me, as I had suspected it all along, but what did surprise me was the bow and arrow had actually worked. I look at it in wonder. No, I had made it work.

The war god fell off the ladder to the deck below, and as I climbed down I saw Ares cupping a hand to his left eye wear the golden blood of the gods was flowing down his cheek. He looked at me and snarled, then took the hand of Aphrodite, who I had almost forgotten was here too.

'Keep the cursed weapon." Ares muttered, but loud enough so that I could hear it. "And you better pray that it doesn't fail you when you need it most. I'm much more powerful than I let on, punk. Don't let this useless victory go to your head. I was going easy on you. I didn't feel like wasting my strength on someone as insignificant as you."

And with that, the two gods began to glow, and I turned away. All I could think about was the fact that I had just beaten a god in combat, and he had responded with excuses. I smirked. This must have been a huge blow to his ego.

When the shining stopped I turned around and found a red sports car and a teenage boy in its place.

"Again?!" I heard a bewildered Illiana shout. And I couldn't blame her. Even I was getting tired of becoming a target for all the gods, and yeah, I had a feeling this guy was one too.

"Woah there, slow down." said the guy, laughing nervously. "I'm just here to congratulate you on putting down laser shades."

I cocked my head. "Laser shades?"

Apollo shook his head. "Ah, sorry. That's my nickname for him. He hates it. I meant Ares."

Before I could respond, the guy nodded at me and regarded my bow with interest. "You're pretty good with that thing," he said. "I'm proud of you." The guy smiled, but I was confused.

"Why were you….proud?" I asked. The guy stared at me for a second, then shrugged.

"Nevermind." he decided. "Anyways, I need a small favor. You see, I was, ah….set back, this morning and I missed sunrise." The guy scratched his head awkwardly. "Would you mind giving me the time? I need to go catch up to where the sun is supposed to be by at least noon or my sister's gonna notice I was late again and she'll give me Hades for it!"

I was about to ask why he brought a car with him, a really nice one at that, when I noticed the hole in the deck for the first time. I was just staring at the car on the deck, and suddenly realized a circle around the car that was completely burnt through, and the sports car was just casually hovering over the hole in the floor, which opened into the roof someone's cabin below deck. Blackened pieces of wood surrounded the rim of the hole.

"Oh my gods…" Illiana whispered.

"Oh my gods is right." I whispered back.

The guy seemed confused for a second, before he realized what we were looking at.

"Oh, that?" He waved his hand dismissively. "It's just-"

"WHY IS THERE A HOLE IN THIS SHIP?!" a voice shrieked.

I turned around and saw a not very happy Calypso storm up the stairs.

"He did it!" both Illiana and I claimed in unison, pointing at the guy.

He looked shocked. "Aw, come on guys I didn't-"

"Apollo!" Calypso screamed. The guy, who was apparently Apollo, looked deathly afraid and I didn't blame him. Calypso could be scary when she wanted too.

Just then,

"MONSTERS!" A disgruntled Tyson bounded up the steps, panting unevenly. As soon as he got above deck, he pointed off the side of the ship, and all of us turned our heads simultaneously to see what he was talking about. I gasped.

A huge rock, the one I had glimpsed out o the ocean a while earlier, was the height of a skyscraper and towered over our ship, and a deathly-looking whirlpool churned to the left of it.

"This is not good," Apollo muttered. And I couldn't agree more.

 **~Happy Birthday Percy Jackson~**


	21. I Scream, You Scream, ANNABETH SCREAMS

**Dear peoples, GUESS WHAT? I've finally decided to start publishing ON SCHEDULE. To one of the guest reviews, yes I will now have a publishing schedule: Once. A. Month. Specifically on the 18th of each month. Yes I know it's a long time to wait for a story, and I REALLY wish I could publish more often, but I'm in high school now and there is EVEN more homework than before and I can barely even keep up with writing a chapter in a month. So bear with me, and hey! I may even give ya'll a surprise chapter every now and then :)) Enjoy this one, and stay tuned!**

 **Percy**

I backed away in horror at the twisted body lying in front of me. I felt as if I couldn't breathe. I pinched myself once just to make sure I was still alive and real. My thoughts swarmed in my head, trying to find any sense of reality I could hold onto. I stopped moving backward, gulped nervously, and glanced once again at the face of the person I had probably just killed.

It was mine.

The person in the black, hooded cloak on the floor who I had just taken out with my sword, was me. Well, at least it looked like me. Like an actual exact clone. I didn't understand any of it. The moment I had looked at its face I had first thought I was dead and I was looking at my body from outside. But I swept the thought out of mind, concluding the idea had probably popped up as a result of watching so many horror movies with Nico. And there was no way I was dead. Right?

If only Annabeth were here. She would've known what was going on. ' _Oh Percy,'_ she would say, ' _You were the one who killed him. How would that make you the dead one? And that guy in the hood literally just kidnapped you and dragged you all the way out here. If that person was really you, that would mean you just kidnapped yourself. And as dumb as you can be sometimes, I doubt I would ever date someone as much as an idiot to do kidnap himself. Though I would have to admire their dedication for going through with such a thing.'_ Then she would roll her eyes at me, grumble something in Greek about what an idiot I still was, then drag me off somewhere.

With a start, I realized I had just explained it to myself. I raised my eyebrows and nodded out towards the darkness, as if saying to the invisible audience, _Yes, I did just figure it without anyone's help. And yes, I am extremely hungry._

Annabeth would be proud. She'd probably scold me first for taking so long, but then she'd congratulate me. Maybe. But just thinking about Annabeth jarred me back to the grim reality. I was stuck in the middle of nowhere, literally, and all of my friends, including Annabeth, were nowhere in sight. I couldn't see anything, besides the guy on the floor in front of me. But then thinking about _him_ , brought back another unanswered question.

Why did he look exactly like me?

I realized I was still holding my sword, but debated capping it. In a place like this where I felt like I was being watched every second, yet I could see nothing, unnerved me. I decided to keep Riptide out.

I looked around, trying to think of what to do now, but my thoughts only kept returning to Annabeth. Where was she now? Was she okay? Did she know I was gone? I wondered if she and the rest had been captured too. And then I kept thinking of how Annabeth would always be able to get me out of any situation, she was so clever. Since we were twelve she's been saving my life. And if I wasn't going to see her again, her last words to me would have been telling me to go brush my teeth. Is this really how it was going to end?

I tried to wash the surprisingly morbid thoughts from my mind. This depressing place was doing something to me. It's like it was sucking out all of my positive and optimistic feelings and multiplying all the bad ones by ten. Like the non-human version of Nico. No, even Nico was happier than where I was now. But maybe it wasn't just my surroundings. I'd never felt so hopeless before.

The thought came to me suddenly, as if all this time thinking about how to get back to my friends was just an effort wasted because I realized this only now: there was nothing here. Nothing to work with, to help me escape, to get me out of here. I wasn't as smart as Annabeth or as resourceful as Leo, and even if my powers were working, what would I use them on? This place was empty of all things, so I wouldn't be finding the ocean anytime soon. There was actually no way out. Unless whoever brought me here was feeling generous today, which I kind of doubted.

I stood up, contemplating just walking around until either someone found me or I died of starvation. Not having breakfast early this morning has probably been the biggest mistake of my entire life.

I barely took even a few steps before I heard it. A guttural scream, that echoed around me and in my ears. And even worse, I recognized it.

 **Annabeth**

I had resorted to quietly sobbing and sniffling in the arms of the dark figure carrying me. I still didn't know what was going on. Only random automatic thoughts like _I'm sad_ , or, _I'm scared_ , or _I need Percy_.

I didn't know who or what a _Percy_ was, but my mind seemed to utter only this word over and over in my head until it was the only thing that consumed my thoughts. Well, I didn't have any thoughts, considering my situation at the time, so I was surprised my brain was working enough to even do that much.

But right then at that moment, I knew that as soon as I had a Percy everything would be alright. I felt it. Because that's all I could do, just feel.

And it was also in that moment when the thing carrying me dropped me on the floor and instantly ran away, leaving no trace he had ever been here at all. He didn't even set me down gently, which now that I think about it would have been only expected after taking so much care to carry me all the way out here, but it seemed like he was in a hurry.

Being in my current mental state, unsure of everything that had just happened in the spur of the moment and now being left alone, I started to panic. And within seconds I let out an ear-shattering scream that in the real world would've alerted every monster for miles to my presence, but over here all I could hope for was that someone had heard it even faintly at all.

The intentions behind the scream were originally out of pure fear, just screaming because I didn't want to be alone and I was sad and I had no other way to express it. And little did I know, that scream unintentionally saved my life.

"Annabeth!" I heard a voice in the distance as a response to my screaming. I stopped at once and froze, my eyes widening and facing in the direction of the voice. I didn't know what to make of it. Who was Annabeth, I wondered? And the voice...it sounded distinctly familiar, but my brain couldn't exactly process how.

"Annabeth! Where are you?" The voice yelled in desperation once again.

I couldn't think of what else to do other than curl up in a ball and die, so I resumed the incessant screaming. Again, another unintentional life-saver. I heard a series of grunts and thuds in the distance, which Percy had later told me was him bumping into many invisible walls. I stopped for a while, just listening to the rhythm of loud sounds before it began to bore me and I started screaming again. It was a never-ending cycle.

After about a minute I stopped again, but this time only because my throat was dry and my voice was dying, and I didn't think I could possibly say or do anything else without vomiting. At least my brain could recognize nauseousness.

I tucked my head between my knees in an attempt to stop the pounding in my brain and stayed curled up in a little ball for at least another five more minutes, before I heard the voice again.

"Annabeth!" It yelled, but this time it sounded different, not panicked or urgent anymore. It sounded kind of distorted and full of pain. The voice called over and over again, sounding so sad and desperate that it brought me to tears, but I didn't know why. The tears just fell, rolling down my cheeks and dripping onto the floor. I didn't respond to the strange tickling sensation the left on my cheeks, but instead just stared straight ahead and listened to the voice keep calling for his Annabeth.

At one point I had to cover my ears because the sound of the strange person's voice had begun to make my heart ache. 'It's me, Percy!", it would yell, but other than the memory of that name in my head, it held no meaning for me.

I kept my head down and my arms curled around my knees, and soon the voice gave up. I felt a wave of relief rush through me, as the horrible gutting feeling I felt when the voice spoke faded away, but at the same time, a sense of disappointment. I didn't know why, and I couldn't exactly figure it out as my brain wasn't cooperating at the moment, but I could feel I needed to hear the voice again. I felt it so strongly in my heart that for a minute all I was aching for was to hear the sound of the voice again, even though I had no idea what it was saying and even if the sadness in it brought me pain, I felt like I needed it to survive.

I continued to wait in my small curled up the position on the floor, not moving a single inch, and it wasn't until I heard the voice once again that I lifted my head. And this time, the person who the voice belonged to was right in front of me.

 **Percy**

"Annabeth?" I said. My voice came out like a hoarse whisper, and my throat felt excruciatingly dry after all the time I was calling out for her.

When I heard the screams, it only took one moment of hesitation and then I bolted.

"Annabeth!" I yelled. I was sure. I was sure those were her screams. And even if it wasn't, I wasn't going to waste one moment trying to figure out the scream when I could be saving Annabeth.

The fear of her screams replayed in my mind, and I followed its sound. I called for her multiple times, but she never answered back. Her screaming stopped a few times too, and although it was brief it was enough to know she had heard me. I didn't know what was going on with her or why she wasn't responding, but I was going to find her.

 _Thud._

I stumbled back and fell on my butt. Rubbing my aching nose, I got up, taking a few moments to register what had just happened. I reached out my hand and felt around. _A wall_.

I squinted. I couldn't see it, but it was there. I mean, it explained why my kidnapper earlier had been taking all sorts of turns, but how did he see them?

I sighed and dragged my hand along the wall until it stopped, and walked through that opening. I felt a moment of accomplishment from getting past the wall, but it was immediately extinguished as the memory of Annabeth's screams came back to me. But with a start, I realized they had stopped.

I started sprinting again. I bumped into wall after wall, tripping over my own feet and going headfirst into invisible dead ends. But that didn't stop me. All I could hope for was that I wasn't too late. Why had she been screaming like that? What could have possibly happened to her?

And I know I was worried about the cause of it and what was making her act like that, but what really worried me was, _why did she stop?_

Could whatever that was threatening her have…..? No. NO. I refused to believe it. All that my mind wondered when her screaming ceased, was had she been killed? But she couldn't have! She's too smart for that. She couldn't have died this easily, this fast! Everything that had happened right now had been so quick I hadn't even got a chance to think about the fact that one of us might die here, wherever we were. But Annabeth couldn't die. She wouldn't leave me, she wouldn't! Not just like that. No….

I felt my knees grow weak as my eyes stung and tears fell down my cheeks. I forced myself to stay upright. Stop jumping to conclusions, I told myself. She just stopped screaming. That's all that happened. For all I knew she could've just killed some monster and the threat was gone or something like that. It's just this place….this miserable place that was affecting all my thoughts.

And then the adrenaline began to surge through my veins, and my mind let go of everything without a second thought. The screaming had resumed again. I ran.

As horrible as it sounded, the resumed screaming was a relief to me. It was my only sign that Annabeth was still alive.

And then I froze. My pulse began to race and my heart began to pound. I held onto the edge of the wall next to me for support.

And that was when I said her name. I winced at the sound of my voice, but immediately forgot all that when I saw the way she looked at me.

It was with fear in her eyes.

She was curled up in a small ball on the floor, nothing like I had expected. She looked fine, besides for the fact that she was shaking and scared out of her wits, but no damage. She was alone, no one threatening her life and swordpoint or anything like that.

So why was she so distressed?

She opened her mouth once, but then closed it again. Her eyebrows were squished together and she was squinting at me as if her she had forgotten how to speak.

"Annabeth?" I repeated, reaching out my hand to her. She recoiled at the gesture and a pang of hurt surged through me. I didn't understand. What happened to her? I'd never seen her like this before.

My eyes burned and I realized with a start that I was crying again, which seemed to scare Annabeth. Her lip quivered and she shrunk away from me, and I vigorously wiped my face of all the tears.

I looked at her state on the floor, chattering nonsensical words every now and then, tears streaming down her face. I just stood and stared at her like that for about a minute, before I couldn't take it anymore.

I fell to my knees and took her face in my hands. Annabeth didn't shy away but she was shaking, looking at me with fear.

"What did they do to you?" I whispered, barely getting the words out. She kept opening her mouth like she was trying to say something back, but she always closed it again. And the way she regarded me…. as if I was a stranger to her.

"Do you...do you know who I am?" I choked the words out, afraid of the answer. She stared straight at me with the same expression as before, not reacting to my words one bit.

Anger surged through me, and for a second all my mind could think about was the bloody outcome after I found out whoever made did this to Annabeth, whatever it was they had done. We'd already gone through something like this before. I'd lost all my memories of everything we'd had, and now it was Annabeth? What kind of cruel plot twist did the fates have in mind this time? Why was it always-

"Per-Per...cy?"

It took a few moments. And then I registered it.

"Annabeth?" Annabeth!" I shook her excitedly. I didn't know what was going on exactly but maybe whatever was wrong with her had worn off!

My happiness was short-lived.

After a minute or so I realized that Annabeth wasn't back to her smart, witty old self. She was still hopeless. But why had she said my name?

"I don't know what to do, Wise Girl," I told her, even though I knew by now that she probably couldn't understand me. "You're always the one with the plan. You're always the one who saves us all….so why did they have to take you away from me?"

I knew she was here and right in front of me, but I also knew she wasn't. This wasn't Annabeth. Whoever came after her, took what made her Annabeth and left behind a lifeless shell of a girl. And I didn't have a clue how to get her back.

I wrapped the defenseless girl in front of me in my arms, and just stayed there. She didn't hug back, but she didn't resist me either. So we just sat like that, frozen in time, hopeless, useless and completely stranded. But as long as I was with her, I would've stayed like that forever.

 **New posting schedule: On the 18th of every month :)) Comment, follow and favorite! Peace out readers :P**


	22. Jace Breaks The Argo II

**Hey guys :)) Yup! It's the 18th again :P Enjoy dis next one, but I got something on my mind for you guys. Sooo, my question...would y'all rather have shorter chapters (like this or a bit longer) but more often, or really long chapters but a little bit far apart? Answer in the comments! :)**

 **Illiana**

Why? Just….why?

This entire day, which has so far only been a few hours, has been a sequence of problem after problem, a new complication for us around every corner.

First, we find out every other demigod on this ship was kidnapped and taken to Zeus knows where, possibly even killed, and the only people left are me, Jace, "island-girl", a baby Cyclops and a middle-aged goat-man. How helpful.

Then we get a lovely little visit from an annoying goddess who takes pleasure in playing with the lives of humans like we're her little Barbie dolls, and later find out we're only just another pawn for the gods in a new war that we now have to be a part of.

Oh, and don't get me started on the scary motorcycle god dude, who Jace decided it would be a good idea to pick a fight with. Wonderful. What utterly surprised me though, was that Jace won. And the entire time they fought I just held the dagger-sword in my hand and stared at them, dumbfounded.

And then a guy showed up in a magical sports car and burned a hole in our ship.

What did I tell you? One new problem after another.

Oh, and did I mention our ship was now sailing straight towards a whirlpool? Avoid the whirlpool, you say. But you see, on the direct right of that, there was a group of jagged rocks surrounding a tremendously tall cliff.

Tyson was desperately trying to turn the wheel, pulling and yanking at it, but it seemed to be jammed. What a lovely time to decide to not work. I mentally scolded the wheel.

Calypso groaned in exasperation. "It needs voice activation, but it only responds to Leo!"

It was my turn to groan. Could this situation possibly get any worse?

Well, I should've known.

As we neared the two deathly threats in front of us, I noticed something else. Two large and absolutely scary looking deadlier threats. _Dragons_. Or at least they looked like dragons. Definitely more frightening, terrifying and ' _I'm going to rip out your throat before you can blink'_ -ening _._

Apollo crossed his arms and tilted his head. "What an unfortunate situation. Seems like you four will have a wonderful time with this!"

Us four? Was he just going to leave or something? After destroying the deck of our ship he's just going to leave like that?

Apollo wiggled his fingers in a cheery little wave. "I'll just leave now. Carry on."

Oh. So he was.

"Hey!" Jace yelled. "Aren't you a god? Can't you help us even a bit? We're going to get killed!"

Apollo nodded. "Yes. Yes, you are. And as generous as I am, I think I'm going to let the fates get on with their business. Go out there, boy! Show em' what you're made of!" he cheered us on with small bits of half-hearted enthusiastic encouragement.

"Can't you like, at least move our boat away from those things or something?" I asked desperately.

Apollo seemed to be getting impatient. He tapped his foot against the deck. "Look, kid. You're the hero. This is what heroes do. Same themselves. If you wanted the gods to baby you on all your quests, you wouldn't be much of a hero, now would you?." Apollo held his head high and grinned. He could not have looked more stuck up in that moment.

"And face it, I'm a lot more needed to the world than a couple of demigods. Just imagine, all the haikus that could have never been experienced if I was gone! And oh, my charm!" He let out a piercing cry of agony. "Could Olympus survive without it, I think not."

I couldn't really think of anything to say back. I kind just wanted to chuck his godly butt off the boat and be done with him. But then again, that wouldn't make my poetry any better.

We were nearing the cliff, which from up close looked so menacing it could probably kill me if I stared for too long. But then I realized that before the cliff killed me, the huge thing on top of it would. The frightening sight of the monsters nearing us hit me harder this time, as I hadn't realized how close we had gotten, and now that we were here I kind of just wanted to jump off the side of the boat and see how my luck went from there.

Apollo gulped, which wasn't very helpful in reassuring my own fear. "Well….I'm out."

"Oh no you don't," I whispered under my breath. Apollo began to glow and I ran and tackled him. I pinned him to the floor and grabbed his wrists behind his back.

 _Yes_ , I thought to myself. _I did just football-style tackle this god_.

 _And yes_ , I also thought to myself. _Every inch of my body_ is _in pain_.

"Crazy girl, get your hands off me! This is assault! Hermes will hear about this in Olympian court!" Apollo wailed as I twisted his wrists behind him tighter. He probably wasn't the god of self-defense.

I turned around to Jace's slightly startled expression and blew a strand of hair out of my eyes. "Are you gonna help me, or what?"

I took him a moment, but his eyes seemed to come back into focus and he looked around quickly. "Ah...yes, I will, um…."

He zeroed in on something, made a sound like he had an idea, and headed over to the side of the boat wear a thick rope was tying a corner of the mast cloth of the sails onto a pillar.

"What's he doing?" I whispered to myself as he inspected the knot.

Apollo tilted his head from his position on the floor. "You're Arrowhead's a little….ah, well let's just say he has special kind of logic."

I frowned. "What do you me- wait…..JACE, NO!"

But before my words could reach him, with one swift pull he untied the rope. He glanced up at me with a look of pride at first, smiling genuinely, but his happiness was short-lived. Before he could even register the sound of it, the entire mast cloth came tumbling down on top of him.

I just stared at the pile of cloth for a few seconds, unmoving, before I heard a faint mumbling from underneath it. It sounded a bit something like…."Whoops".

"Jace!" I yelled. "You just untied the entire sail!"

Jace dug his way out of the humongous bundle on top of him and looked at me when his head poked out. He shot his eyes around nervously, then glanced up to the now nonexistent sail. "Um….but isn't this ship magic or something? It doesn't need the thing, does it?" he chuckled nervously, but he was mostly trying to convince himself.

I heard an evil growl behind me. I stiffened.

"No, but the ship sure does look ODD."

I turned around slowly to a furious Calypso, pointing threateningly up at the now clothless pillar high in the sky.

My eyes widened. Calypso had gone below deck earlier to go tinker with some mechanic stuff in the engine. Something about magical songs or whatever. But now she was back and she was _not_ happy.

"Well, uh…." I stuttered as I tried to explain, "B-but, Jace is right! Isn't this ship magical? It doesn't _really_ need the sails does it?"

Calypso seemed to be getting angrier so I panicked and tried harder. I tilted my head at the long wooden poles forming a cross high in the air, that earlier help up the shape of the sail. "I mean….at least if we run into any pirates, our ship will look so weird….they'll sail away….?"

I grimaced at Calypso's incredulous expression.

"They'll sail awa- I'm not worried about some stupid pirates! Yes, this ship is magic, but the magic is in this _entire ship._ Which means the magic is also _in the sails_. If this entire ship fell apart do you think we would still be fine, " _because it's magic"_?"

I laughed nervously, then struck a "this is all your fault" look at Jace behind me, who was now standing up. He winced and looked at his feet in response.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Look we're really sorry, I don't think-"

"HEY, uh….guys?" Apollo yelled out, but I was already frustrated enough with him. I twisted his wrists that I still held onto behind his back, and willed him to shut the Hades up.

"As I was saying, Jace didn't know that was going to happen! He's completely clueless, about everything, and-"

"Hey!" Jace whined.

I gave him a look. "Jace, not now-"

"Um...um GUYS!" Apollo interrupted again. "I think we shou-"

"APOLLO STAY QUIET!" I screamed. I'd had it with him. "This is all mostly your fault anyway-"

"Don't put the blame on other people, Illiana!" Calypso scolded. "I'm willing to let this one go because you guys are new, but don't think the two of you haven't already caused big enough trouble for us-"

"What?! But this wasn't even my fault, I swear-"

"Oh stop it! Own up to your actions and-"

"But I didn't do anything! Jace was just trying to-"

Apollo wriggled furiously in my grasp. "Guys if you would just LISTEN-"

I simply ignored him this time, despite the desperation in his voice.

"Calypso, Jace was just trying to help by using the rope to tie Apollo down-"

"Why on earth would you want to do that? Before you do such rash things, think first-"

"That was Jace, NOT ME-"

"GUYS!" Apollo shouted.

"WHAT?" Both me and Calypso screamed at him in unison.

"LOOK OUT!"

Before I could look up, there was a huge crash, and the world turned dark.

 **YAY :D**

 **Also: Would you prefer shorter chapters like this one more often, or really long chapters but less often...? ANSWER IN COMMENT GUYS LOVE YOU BYE MWAH! ;)**


	23. just a super important update pffft

I'm actually so so SO sorry if y'all thought this was gonna be an update, I hate when I get I get excited for a new chapter of anything and it's just a note lol, but here this is:

I wasn't gonna update, but I didn't want to leave u guys hanging, so I decided to make up and excuse for not publishing for two months.

U guys may have noticed i tried, key word "TRIED", to stick to another time posting schedule, every 18th of the month, and yay look how that turned out :') Honestly, I just started high school and I was not prepared for this onslaught of homework and all this shit from teachers and I literally only actually remeber that I have a fanfcition on the 16th and then I try to rush and write a chapetr in two days but then I write for like an hour and I only got like three pages, and I sorta give up, so I'm like, "OKAY, next month for SURE! :D" and then i realized today, in the middle of my finals that I still have yet to write that chapter.

You guys actually dont realize how much you mean to me, and I hope you know that everytime I get a notfication of a new follower or review I'm just so happy like I can't belive I'm one of those people who actually have a good enough story for even ONE person to like it and WOW XD

ALSO, IF Y'ALL DIDN'T KNOW THIS, THE FANFIC IS OFFICIALLY OVER A YEAR OLD OH MY GOD I SUCK AT PUBLSIHING :D

alsoooo, i have a percy jackson fan account on instagram, follow me persassy_blowfish , I REALLY need to get 1800 followers by CHRISTMAS PLS YAY

and my tumblr persassy-blowfish

:)) self-promo what?

and if you guys read all of this I love you forever and pls comment and i will love u even more, my love is that endless

also this probably has a lot of typos, forgive me but i don't really care

IMPORTANT: So so far my chapter is only five pages long (it's usually around 8), should I wait til January 18th with the longest chapter I've ever written EVER, or post in a few days with my super short chapter and then again on January 18th with a slightly short chapter?

YOUR OPINIONS MATTER, PLEASE COMMENT

I LOVE YOU

BUT COMMENT OR ELSE

bye, my loves, and follow persassy_blowfish on instagram ;)) pls


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